Belong
by Halno
Summary: Who would think the outcast of the Village, of which everyone hated, would come back and save all of them? In a war torn era, where the world is slowly being consumed by hatred, Will Naruto Uzumaki be able to find the peace he always sought, and a place to Belong? (AU; Rinnegan!Naruto; Nice!Itachi; Pairings Undecided)
1. Arc I: Hope

-/-/-

_Disclaimer: I Do not own Naruto_

-/-/-

_**Belong**_

_**Arc I: The Birth of a Rising Legend**_

_**Chapter 1: Hope**_

-/-/-

It was a cold day of winter, The night was coming close and the small grains of snow fell calmly over the scenery, melting quickly; A orange blur could be seen rushing through the streets; this person's name was Naruto Uzumaki

Held tightly in his hands was half a piece of a loaf of bread, He ran through the streets and between the civilians with practiced ease, as a merchant clumsily tried to catch up to him, in no more than a few minutes he had escaped the furious merchant and was already deep in the rather dense forests, looking for a particular location deep into it;

A few minutes of coordinated walking and he found the location he was looking for: A small clearing in the forest; with a single, large tree in the middle with an apparently old tree-house in it, climbing a thick rope with many knots; Naruto used only one hand to hastily climb up to the tree-house

The tree house wasn't something very large or very impressing; nicely done and with a decent size; but nothing out of the ordinary; there were only two equally small rooms each with a single window in them; the one with the entrance had a chair and a table and a balcony with a few cooking utensils and empty ramen cups in it; and in the other room was a mattress with a blanket over it and in the far corner of the room was a small wardrobe and by its side was a rather large pile of clothes; all of them seemingly very old and used.

He checked the ground back down through the door, before turning his head back to the interior "Alright, you can come out now!" Said Naruto in a cheerful tone and before he could finish his sentence a reddish orange fox jumped from the pile of clothes (that was now much smaller) and jolted in Naruto's face; Happily licking him.

"C-Calm down Minami!" Naruto said while laughing Happily, The Reddish fox sat besides Naruto wagging her tail excitedly; Naruto sat up and started petting the top of the fox's head, before something clicked in his mind and he started looking through the pockets in his jacket "Hang on Mina, I've got something you will like!" after looking through his pockets he pulled out a piece of beef; Naruto tossed the piece of meat to the fox as she caught it and started munching happily;

"So hey Minami, Where is Naomi-nee-chan?" The fox tilted her head before she yipped quietly, Naruto took it as that his friend, of whom he considered a sister in all but blood was somewhere in the forest, The seven-year-old stored the piece of bread for his sister when she arrived and went to the other room in the tree house and laid down in the futon, taking a quick nap before his sister came back; so that they could share whatever food they found;

A Few hours passed and the sky was getting dark, Naruto woke up from his slumber as he noticed something moving through the bushes around the clearing.

Suddenly startled, Naruto grabbed a Kitchen knife and positioned himself just at the door in the tree house, looking around, Naruto saw two of bush's further away from the tree house move a little and a figure to appear between them for a brief time, "Whoever you are, Come out now!" Yelled Naruto, in obvious worry for his sister.

Slowly from the bushes, a child's frame appeared in Naruto's sight "Naruto-nii-san? Is that you?" said the small figure with radiant red hair.

Sighing in relief, Naruto softened his stance and answered to the person "Naomi-nee-chan, you gave me a big scare now; come up so we can eat!" Said Naruto in a happy tone;

"Sorry for being late nii-san, but I brought a lot of food today!" Answered Naomi in an equally happy voice, as Naruto's eyes widened and a huge grind formed afterwards _'That's enough food for two weeks!'_

Helping her up the makeshift rope ladder, Naruto took on her full appearance;

Her bright red hair that was kept free hanged all the way to her knees, her silky, smooth white skin with a few calluses on her hands and feet from living her entire life in the forest as an orphan, harvesting food and working with large tools when it was needed, she wore an green sleeveless skintight top that was surprisingly well kept and void of any holes or dirt, the same could not be said from her grey cargo shorts, that were dirty and had plenty of patches fixing many of the holes, she also wore black sandals that were incredibly new and sturdy, this one was a gift from Naruto to Her and also the reason why Naruto wasn't wearing any footwear;

Moving back to their small cooking area, both he and Naomi made a small meal for the two of them to end their day; they ate the loaf of bread Naruto managed to get with a bit of jelly made from the large amount of fruits Naomi managed to harvest;

Hours had passed and the sun was fully set, many stars shimmered in the sky, a strong gust of wind passed by and both Naomi and Naruto shivered from the cold of the winter winds; moving to the small bedroom, they both laid down in the futon that was there as Naruto retrieved a blanket for Naomi;

Setting the thin blanket over himself and his sister in all but blood; Naruto hugged her to make sure she was comfortable and warm and to share body heat, Minami the fox came shortly after and curled herself just besides Naomi, Who was now petting the top of the fox's head and enjoying the warmth of the hug she was receiving; it did not take much time before all three of them wandered off into a deep and comfortable slumber

**Meanwhile**

**In the council meeting room…**

"I already said no!" yelled Hiruzen Sarutobi, The third Hokage of Konoha "We will not kill him, nor will we make him in a mindless weapon!" He shouted leaking high amounts of Killing intent, as he glared over the three elders and the civilian councilors.

"But he is becoming a serious problem for us! His pranks are defiling our shops and his presence scares away customers, our profits are going extremely low and some of the smaller shops are barely getting any profit to feed their families!" said a young woman of the civilian side

"As a side note, he has recently been stealing from our shops in the far side of the village, becoming a nuisance and of course cutting our profits, we should just put an leash around him!" Said an elderly man of the Civilian council.

"I agree with them" Said Homura "Should we not banish him or put him in order, we must make him a military asset for our village"

"Do I have to repeat myself? I said no and my decision will stay no; I Will find a way to deal with his pranks and his stealing habits, but Naruto Uzumaki will not be Banished from our village neither he will become a Weapon!"Hiruzen yelled once more, slamming his hand on the table causing a large crack to appear , The room then became deadly silent for a few seconds before he got up "I Hereby declare this meeting finished" he said as he left the room in direction to his office;

Danzo also had the same route when he left the meeting room, in his mind he was playing out scenarios on how to have the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki under him as Konoha's ultimate weapon, However, he knew that the Sandaime was too adamant when the topic was the Blonde Jinchuuriki, and became even more after this meeting _'I guess I'll have to wait to find out how I can have the jinchuuriki, but I could always try Shisui's sharingan, and if that doesn't work…'_

Back to Hiruzen, who was opening the door to his office, sighing in relief seeing that there was almost no paperwork to be done, sitting in his chair, he removed the Kage hat from his head and placed it on top of his desk.

Opening a drawer he grabbed a pipe filled with tobacco and lighted it up, puffing on it calmly he tried to relax a bit.

A few seconds passed and he looked back to the opened drawer, his eyes got a perverted glint to them as he noticed the book on it: "_Icha Icha Paradise: Volume 3, Silver Version_", He swiftly moved his hands to grab the small orange book but before he could withdraw it from the drawer he heard a series of knocks on his door, Hanging his head he said slowly in a cold and Ominous tone "Enter".

From the door came only Danzo and one of the secretaries, the secretary dumped two huge piles of paperwork on top; Hiruzen only managed to twitch his left eye angrily before the secretary left the room closing the door behind them, Hiruzen signaled for the ANBU stationed there to leave and activated the Privacy seal placed on the room "I Knew you would come around, Danzo, you've been awfully quiet during the meeting"

"I'm here to talk about the-" Danzo was cut by the Sandaime

"If you're here to try and take Naruto to your little Root program; you may leave this room now" He said in an angry tone

"Reason with me, Hiruzen" said Danzo "If we leave him around, he might be a problem for us later on, he could very well rampage around the village should the seal weaken as he can abandon the village, becoming an easy target for any of the other villages" He said in a monotone, noticing the Sandaime about to retort he decided to change topics "However; I'm not here to discuss the Kyuubi Boy, I'm here to discuss the Uchiha clan"

The Sandaime's eyes narrowed for a moment, "What do you need?"

"My Spies in the Uchiha clan found that the suspected Coup is not a rumor, but an actuality, and the Coup D'état is almost in the final stages of planning; I calculate that the attack should be expected in a month's time" Said danzo, stepping forward

Hiruzen took a deep breath "So what do you suggest?"

"I Suggest that we completely eradicate the clan" Danzo said in a complete monotone voice

"What? Even for some of our best trained ANBU teams it would be a completely suicidal mission; And even then, if they succeed in killing the whole clan, we will look suspicious in the other village's eyes, and it will make us nothing different from Kirigakure, We should kill only the responsible and involved" Hiruzen said in an analytical tone

"Even if we succeed in killing the Leaders and the involved members, we will not look bad to the outer world, but instead raising suspicion inside the village" replied Danzo in his monotone voice

"There sure has to be a way to diplomatically fix this, without unnecessary blodshed" The elderly Hokage tried to reason.

"I'm afraid that would be impossible, Hiruzen, They're way too adamant about their status as the village's most gifted and powerful clan, and will not back off easily, but I've got the perfect plan to eradicate the clan without raising suspicion inside the village neither outside of it"

"And what would be that plan?" Hiruzen said, narrowing his eyes

"Itachi Uchiha" Danzo said at once

"What part does he play?"

"Itachi Uchiha is by far one of our most well trained and well suited Shinobi, Excels in stealth and is revered through his whole clan as a prodigy and a genius; I Believe him alone would be able to exterminate a large part of the clan by himself; if not all of it, We know he is completely loyal to the village and its safety, should we inform him of the Coup D'état and how it would endanger Konoha I doubt he would deny becoming a false Nuke-Nin for the good of the village" Danzo said, his voice never faltering and always in Monotone "I've brought this scroll with more detailed information on what my spies found, as well as my suggestions on what should we proceed with" Said Danzo as he placed a green scroll tied with a red band on the top of the Hokage's desk "You know I only want the best for the village, Hiruzen"

The Elderly Kage opened the scroll and quickly read through it "That's an complete injustice against the whole clan and against him…" He sandaime lowered his head and grabbed his pipe again, puffing in it for a few moments "…But I suppose it's the only way, Anything else will raise too much suspicion and it may cause economical instability or insubordination from our ranks; or worse." He said, Raising from his seat, Disabling the Privacy seal and Signaling for one of his ANBU to arrive "Summon Itachi here immediately, I'll want to finish this as soon as possible; Danzo, you may leave now" Danzo turned and leaved the room silently and slowly, The ANBU that had received his orders gave a short bow and left in a blur of speed.

Sitting back down on his Chair, the elderly Kage Took a few puffs out of his Pipe, before taking a deep Sigh, His eyes took on them a perverted glint once more as he moved his hand to reach for his Limited edition of Icha Icha; Before he looked up in the desk and saw the two huge piles of paperwork, Slamming his head on the table he let out a muffled "Damn you Minato, why did you have to die?"

A Few minutes passed by as he went signing out the multitudes of Paperwork; He raised his gaze from the table as he noticed someone entering his office, before he heard the voice of Uchiha Itachi himself "I Suppose you summoned me; Hokage-sama?" Said Itachi, wearing a mask resembling that of an weasel

"Yes Itachi, I did" He said in a calm and friendly tone "I Suppose you should know of the recent developments inside your clan, no?"

"I was the one to relay the findings, Sir." Itachi replied

Hearing that, Hiruzen continued "So as you may know, The Uchiha Elders and superiors are planning a Coup D'état in the village, I plan to stop it"

"What are your orders, Hokage-sama?"

"I Need you to completely exterminate all members of the Uchiha Clan, Excluding yourself" If Itachi was shocked, He did no- Wait, He did show it; His body stiffened and he let out an audible gasp, As he took two steps backwards "C-Care to repeat; Hokage-sama?" Itachi said, Stuttering and his voice faltering.

"Your orders are to completely exterminate all under the Uchiha surname, Civilian, Shinobi and Children alike, After that, you are to be under a fake personality and become a Nuke-nin to avoid raising suspicion inside and outside of the village" The Sandaime said, his voice stern and powerful "I'm sorry Itachi, but it's the only way" He said, a grandfatherly smile showing on his face

Recomposing himself, Itachi bowed to the Hokage "I Understand, Hokage-sama, When am I supposed to act?" He said in a business tone

"Tomorrow, About this time, when most of the civilians and shinobi are asleep and the police force patrols are less frequent" Itachi nodded in understanding

"I May take my leave now, sir?" Noticing the Elderly Hokage's quick nod, Itachi bowed and used a shunshin to flicker away at his best-friend and surrogate elder-brother's grave.

Clenching his hands, Itachi knelt as tears threatened to fall "This is not fair…" he said in a shaky voice, as he took the mask off his face "…I'll have to kill all of them…" he said, examining the mask with his hands "…My whole family!" Said Itachi, Throwing the mask full force at the ground, shattering it in dozens of pieces, His Mangekyou Sharingan pinwheel pattern spinning wildly in his blood-red eyes "Tell me Shisui… What should I do?"

A Few minutes passed by as Itachi recomposed once more as he rose from the ground "I am a Shinobi of Konohagakure, my loyalty always stood with the will of fire, I Shall take on my orders one last time; Even if it means eternally killing my dreams… I'm sorry Shisui, I just hope that I meet with you and the rest of my family on the afterlife" He said, deactivating his sharingan and shedding a single tear as he stood from the ground and shunshin'ed back to his home, to enjoy a last time with his family

**Time Skip**

**The Next Night…**

It was already Night time and the moon shone high in the skies; the day passed surprisingly quickly, Naruto and Naomi both had a feeling that something was off and decided to stay at home, barraging their doors and windows and effectively hiding themselves;

However, one who was even more distressed was Itachi, who now stood upon a tall light post, watching over his clan's compound, as the shopkeepers closed their business for the day and civilians returned to their home, and the police forte patrolled the area in an organized manner.

Unsheathing his sword, he jumped down the street making no noise whatsoever, his mangekyo sharingan spinning calmly as he slashed at the group of patrolling shinobi, killing the three of them in a single and effective swipe, the only noise made being of their blood dripping of the floor and a silent thump as he continued running through the streets, making a few Kage Bunshin as they dispersed and began slaughtering the civilians and the police force;

Barely fifteen minutes passed and Itachi had already killed almost all of his clan, only three people remaining, His father, mother and brother;

The last of his Kage Bunshin dispersed as he walked calmly to his house, letting go of his perfect silence, Itachi's footsteps could be heard echoing in the empty roads, as he opened the door to his home;

Walking inside, he turned left and saw both of his parents, eating dinner calmly, with two extra bowls in the table, one for Sasuke, and another for Himself.

"Welcome back home, Sweetheart" Said Mikoto, as she smiled dearly to him, before she noticed the bloodied sword on his hand "Is something wrong, Itachi?" She said, before she heard a quiet mumble of "I'm sorry", As Itachi soon appeared at Fugaku's side, Killing him with a single, fatal blow to the heart;

Fugaku's dead body fell to the side as a pool of blood slowly formed around him; Itachi gripped his sword's handle tightly with anger, His father had been out of his way, and could even be the one who organized the whole Coup, but he was still his father;

He walked calmly to the side of his stunned mother as he raised his sword, she came out of her stupor when he did so, looking at him in the eyes, she said quietly "I Understand; I love you, Itachi, take care of Sasuke" Itachi slowly nodded, as raised his sword, preparing to deal a single, painless blow that would kill her instantly, However, he faltered when the images of all the children, innocent family and civilian and loving couple he killed showed in his mind, he lowered his sword a bit, but before he could kill his mother a last image surged in his mind, the day Shisui died, the day that the person that he shared something alike to what Sasuke shared with him died, And now, he felt that he couldn't kill the person who cared for him his whole life, when he entered the academy, when he became a shinobi, when he entered the ANBU, and the most of all, when he lost his best friend.

Letting his sword fall harmlessly to his side, he whispered in a faltering voice "I… Don't want to kill you… I can't hurt you... I was trained to protect you at all costs...", with a few extremely rare tears falling down his cheeks, he quickly came out of his stupor, as his guts practically yelled something wrong was about to happen "Quick, Kaa-san, we have to find Sasuke and leave" he said quickly in a serious tone, seeing the confused look on her face, Itachi grabbed her by the arm and dragged her outside, running through the streets.

It didn't take time before they heard fast and distressed footsteps, along with a silent weeping, turning sharply to the main road, they saw the form of Sasuke running with tears trailing his face "Sasuke! Come here, we have to go!" Said Mikoto in a hushed voice, which Sasuke heard clearly;

"Mommy, Nii-san?" they heard Sasuke say before he rushed quickly to them and grabbed they both in a hug "T-they're a-all… I t-thought that…" Both of them knew what words were left unsaid, Mikoto hugged him back and began caressing the top of his head "There's nothing to worry for Sasuke… We're safe…"

However, Itachi believed they weren't "Quickly, We don't have time for this, we have to run, he said , dragging along with him his mother, who was dragging Sasuke.

"I Didn't expect to meet with you here, Itachi" They heard a voice say, Turning to it, Itachi instantly knew who it was;

"Danzo… I knew you would come around, what do you want?" Said Itachi in a stern voice

"No Uchiha are to be left alive, you know your mission" Danzo said in a monotone voice

"I Don't serve Konoha anymore…" said Itachi, Untying his headband and grabbing a Kunai from his pouch, as he marked the leaf symbol with a large slash, before tying it to his forehead again "… I Only serve the Will of Fire"

"I Didn't think it would come to this point Itachi, but you have been acting strangely after the death of Shisui… Kill him" He ordered, as two shinobi wielding swords and with blank masks jumped from the shadows;

In a swift movement, Itachi escaped the first slash, stabbing the fist masked ninja with his Kunai in the throat, killing him in a matter of moments, he grabbed the sword in the masked shinobi's hand and quickly swiped it to the side, crouching from another slash, and at the same moment removing the other ninja's head from its shoulders;

"Mother, take Sasuke and run! I'll deal with them" Itachi ordered, before Mikoto grabbed Sasuke by the hand and rushed in the opposite side Danzo was.

"Don't let them escape!" Ordered danzo, as five more shinobi surged from the shadows in Mikoto's direction;

Before they could progress any further, Itachi with a single command made a large barrier of black flames appear between them and his family, his mangekyou sharingan now spinning wildly as tears of blood streamed from his left eye "Amaterasu, This battle is between you and me, Danzo"

"So be it" Danzo answered, as the rest of his hiding troops appeared, making a total of Fifteen; With a gesture, Danzo signaled for all of his men to attack Itachi.

'_Sasuke, Mom, please be safe'_ He mentally pleaded as he dodged a large phoenix of flames in his direction, as he jumped escaping a large blast of water, and blocked a almost fatal blow aimed to his neck;

In a quick motion, Itachi decapitated the one who tried to kill him in close range, before using a technique of his own to scorch two more who dared to come too close "Katon: Gokakyuu no Jutsu!"

Turning around, he noticed three more approach, each one making a set of different hand-seals, Before firing off their techniques.

Noticing the Huge blast of fire, powered by a strong current of wind and dozens of small bolts of lightning approaching him in absurdly fast speeds; He made a hand-seal sequence of his own, before yelling the name of his technique "Suiton: Suijinheki!"

Before the attackers could close in, Itachi used an silent substitution with a rather large piece of rock in the ground _'Five gone, Twelve left, This battle won't easily be won'_ "Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" Itachi yelled as five identical clones appeared near him in a huge puff of smoke, before they separated and took on different enemies;

The battle went on a few more minutes, Itachi's clones tried to make time so his brother and his mother could escape, the large barrage of the black flames of Amaterasu had spread through the compound and now a huge fire was taking place; almost completely surrounding Danzo, His minions and Itachi;

'_With the size of this fire undoubtedly the Hokage and the ANBU will come investigate; I have to finish this quickly and escape'_ Thought Itachi, as he dodged yet another nigh-fatal blow and slashed his sword, making a cut through the attackers arm and spilling blood as he dropped his sword and retreated a few steps.

Jumping backwards, Three of itachi's clones had already been dispelled from powerful blows; _'this battle is going into my disadvantage the longer it goes, I have to find an escape route now'_ he thought, silently dispersing his two other clones as once more tears of blood came out from his eyes, and in a lucky hit he had incapacitated four more shinobi with his Amaterasu; '_Twelve gone, Five left; I'm almost out of chakra'_

"Well Danzo, this battle has been interesting and all, but I have to go now" Said Itachi as he started to glow white;

"What? But when?" Asked Danzo, seeing a technique he hoped not to see again; Well, not from so close

"When I created my clones; I made a clone outside the barrier too; and using substitution I changed with the original, I'll be seeing you someday Danzo, It's easy to see you're a clone; But for now, Farewell, Bunshin jojishi bakuha!" The clone said, before he ceased to exist in a large explosion of white flames that created a huge crater in the ground, creating such an huge blast of light and sound that it shook the village and illuminated the roads for long seconds; Before fading off; As the real Itachi had already caught up with the rest of his family and was already far off from the village walls;

**Meanwhile**

**Konoha's Outskirts**

Hours earlier, Both Naruto and his sister Naomi had a feeling of dread, and for such decided to block their home's entrances; making a safe fort for them;

Unfortunately, for the both of them, their guts told the truth, and looking through a small hole in one of the planks, Naruto saw the large black flames far off in the village, quickly expanding through the Uchiha compound;

Seeing some blurs move through the forest and a few branches moving, Naruto quickly rushed to the kitchen and grabbed a large kitchen knife; the only decent weapon he possessed.

"Naomi, Hide!" Said Naruto in a stern tone; Naomi simply nodded as she opened the small wardrobe's doors, throwing out a few clothes and ragged blankets into the futon, before grabbing Minami and hiding inside the wardrobe;

Naruto crouched besides the pile of clothes in the bedroom, pulling some of them over him, making for a decent camouflage in a angle that let him see the two rooms in the tree house;

Naruto became startled as adrenaline began to shoot in his system when a metal flicker could be heard, and in a low bang the lock of the door jumped out; knocking over the chair that locked the door in place;

Two figures in a grayish uniform with blank masks moved into the house, instantly noticing the two chakra signatures inside;

"Move out and come with us and we won't use violence" Said the taller of the two, in a commanding voice;

"Never!" Yelled Naruto, as he jumped from the pile of clothes and tried to slash at the shorter of the two, who just blocked with a kunai and disarmed Naruto, knocking the blade away;

"What do you want!?" Asked Naruto who was scared for him and for his sister

"Come with us, and we won't use violence" Repeated the taller of them

"I Won't go!" Yelled Naruto; Who jolted at the taller one and tried to kick him in the face, but before he could even raise his leg high enough the man had stepped to the side and dealt him a powerful kick to the stomach, which knocked a breathless Naruto to the ground;

Before Naruto could raise from the floor, the doors of the wardrobe opened suddenly and a red blur jumped at the taller of the two, dealing a powerful bite that took blood from him;

Before the fox could cause any more damage, the shorter one unsheathed his sword and in a quick swipe killed the fox with a blow to the chest, The taller then grabbed the corpse of the fox and tossed it away

"No! MinamI! No!" Yelled an enraged Naruto, as a wide-eyed Naomi came out of the wardrobe "Go away!" Yelled Naruto once more, as his features became more feral, His whisker marks becoming more defined as his eyes turned to a light shade of red with slits in them, as his fingernails became elongated and as sharp as razor blades.

Rushing at the taller one once more, Naruto swiped his fingers at his neck, attempting to cut it; the man however just sidestepped Naruto, dealing a powerful punch to his back that broke one of the planks in the floor, before the two of them rushed to the other side of the room, as the shorter one immobilized Naomi while placing his blade to her neck

"Come with us or she dies" the man warned one last time, as a small trickle of blood appeared at her neck

Wide eyed, a red shroud of chakra appeared around Naruto, making his eyes become an darker shade of red as two ears appeared at the top of his head and a tail flailed behind him "…Let her go, NOW!" He Yelled, as he started to growl darkly.

"Kill her and capture him" Said the taller one, as the shorter one stabbed his kunai at her chest, dragging up, earning a stifled scream of pain from her as she felt to the ground.

Naruto's world shattered before his eyes, hot tears came out from his eyes that tried to deny what had just happened; He lost the person who saved his life and brought him out of his depression, the only person who showed him sympathy other than the old man, and the most of all, the only person who loved him when he felt that nothing could take him away from the darkness.

His eyes started to burn like molten steel was running inside his veins; Sensing time starting to pass slower, he saw the taller man approach him in slow motion, with the shorter one coming just behind, looking at him, Naruto saw words beginning to form subconsciously in his mind, as he raised his palm to point at them;

"Shinra Tensei" Came out of his mouth in a hushed whisper, before the landscape where his palm was pointed was completely obliterated, destroying dozens of square meters of land, His technique coincided with a large surge of light and sound, as the landscape became white for a few seconds and a loud buzzing sound; as the light of the explosion dimmed, Naruto's eyes could be seen to be a metallic purple with many black rings in a ripple pattern surrounding a small pupil; Before the rings in his eyes were gone and the colour changed to a light purple, different from the original blue, He looked one last time to his sister, that was covered in rags and debris, as his chakra shroud dissipated and he felt unconsciously to the ground;

Not a long later, three figures came from the distance

"Mommy, what is that?" Asked Sasuke in a scared voice, as he saw the half-destroyed tree-house and the huge crater just by it;

"I don't know" Replied Mikoto, as she narrowed her eyes, seeing a bright yellow bundle on top of the destroyed tree-house "Itachi! There's someone there!"

The exhausted Itachi turned his gaze to them as he changed his route in direction of the tree, As he nimbly climbed it using the Tree walking technique, before he noticed the immobile figure of Naruto, it didn't take much time before he actually noticed who was the blonde kid _'It's the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi! What is he doing here?' _He thought before he ran a few vitals over the blonde, as he sighed, seeing the kid only had a severe case of chakra exhaustion, not something normal for a jinchuuriki;

"Sasuke, Grab on" Ordered Mikoto as Sasuke held tightly to her waist, Mikoto also climbed the tree, setting Sasuke down, Mikoto crouched over to the blonde "Is he alright?"

"Yes, he has a severe chakra exhaustion but he will be alright after a week or two" Replied Itachi

Meanwhile, Sasuke, as a curious child, was looking around the small tree house, before he noticed something uncommon in the debris "Mom! Itachi! There's someone here!" It didn't take another second before both of them were excavating the pile of ripped cloth and broken planks from top of the small girl;

Mikoto gasped as she saw the huge cut through the girls chest, cutting through her stomach all the way up to her shoulder; Mikoto, being more experienced, started running vitals and diagnosis, and in less than a minute, she sighed deeply "She's alive"

-/-/-

**A.N:**

_Revised (14/11/15)_

And there it is my friends, the first chapter of "Belong", Inspired in many other stories were Naruto obtains his Rinnegan, However, this one will have a few twists in it; As you already saw some like Itachi abandoning Konoha, but still in the service of the will of fire, Not Killing his Mother and escaping with her and his brother, as well as Naruto obtaining the Rinnegan without having Sage chakra, nor having full-blooded Uchiha &amp; Senju DNA;

So that's it, The next chapter will be delivered sometime next month; Believe it!


	2. Arc I: Storm

-/-/-

_Disclaimer: I Do not own Naruto_

_**AN: Its finally here: Belong, Chapter 2!**_

-/-/-

_**Belong**_

_**Arc I: The Birth of a Rising Legend**_

_**Chapter 2: Storm**_

-/-/-

It was night, and the winds weren't forgiving that day, they hurt his face like tiny blades of ice slashing at his face repeatedly; He had been walking for hours, maybe a few days but he wouldn't stop going, not until they were safe; He was carefully carrying in his arms a small sleeping red-haired girl, which had most of her torso and legs wrapped in bandages, Just by his side was an exact copy of his, carrying an equally small blond kid.

Ahead, in the far distance, he could see the huge black clouds forming and the bright white thunders flashing beyond them, and they were coming in his direction; As a shinobi, he had learnt how to endure the worst of the worst climates, and even a thunderstorm wasn't a challenge to him; But this time, he wasn't alone.

"Itachi" Said a woman from behind him, she also, was carrying a sleeping child "The storm is arriving, we should stop for the night" He sighed and made a quick pause is his step "Just ahead, by the mountains to the west, there is a small town, I went there once in a mission, it's safe"

She did a quick nod and they continued their walk, they spent a long time in silence, before Mikoto talked again "Itachi, where are we going to live from now on? we won't be able to ever return to the village"

He looked to the skies above, before he said in a low voice "We're going to search for Master Jiraiya, I suppose we're going to live as wanderers for some time, before we find a place to stay indefinitely"

She nodded and they continued walking, and not long after, they arrived to their destination; The town was very small, composed of less than twenty buildings, surrounding the town was a medium palisade, the buildings themselves were mostly two-story tall, with a single one at the center that was cylindrical and twice as taller as the other buildings, and served as a watchtower, and a few ones that where three story tall; the buildings where bunched up near each other, making the streets between them dark and narrow, but they blocked the icy cold wind.

This was a small town, called Ginuranai, it was once a medium town with many buildings and commercial routes from all the places of the world, It was the greatest exporter of Silver and Zinc for a long time, Then the Second ninja war came, and not long after the war was over, the ore deposits had became depleted; and the town barely generated enough sustainment to keep itself alive;

It was slowly turning into a neutral-alignment ghost town, a place where shinobi and nukenin could visit without being perturbed, They crossed the gates with no disturbance, The only guard at the gates was very old, he only spared them a glance and let them pass; Itachi navigated the streets, using a far-away memory to remember where a good place to rest was.

A few turns and curves, dark alleys and unfriendly faces later; They arrived to a Three story tall building which had a sign that simply said 'Tavern and Inn', There was a shuriken symbol in the signs bottom right corner, it was a simple way to say 'Shinobi are welcome here'

Itachi used one of his elbows to open the door, and he was greeted by a elderly man with red spiked hair in the counter

"Ho, Itachi-san, I did not expect you to be returning so soon" said the man with a wide smile in his face "Who are these with you?" he asked, genuinely curious.

Itachi smiled back to the man "Hello, Anoba-san, I also did not think I would return here so soon, These are my mother, my little brother and two... acquaintances we've encountered in our travel" He answered

"Well, You can take room 304 for you, free of charge, just please don't leave a mess like last time" The man smiled and handed him a small key.

After they left the man's field of view, Mikoto looked sternly at Itachi, as if asking him why would he trust just anyone with their identity, Itachi just looked at her and whispered "He is one of Jiraiya-sama's informants"

After setting up the room for them, Itachi laid down the children in a mattress and covered them, he noticed is mother dropping down in the bed and started sleeping quickly taking special care with the red-headed kid, He then sat down and let his thoughts wander back to the previous day's occurrences.

He sighed deeply.

He really did not want to have to kill his clan;

He really did not want to be Konoha's scapegoat.

He wanted to find a nice, intelligent and beautiful girl, he wanted to marry and have children, he wanted to live long and die surrounded by friends and family;

Now all that was ruined, He had no more friends, and the only family he had now were his mother and his brother.

But, anything to protect his home, Ne?

And something is always better than nothing.

Then, his thoughts switched to later events;

He was confused when he found the prone and unconscious form of Naruto Uzumaki atop of a tree, just by the side of a large crater, and then there was the red-headed girl he did not know the name of.

He only knew that she was lucky to be alive.

_**Flashback**_

Mikoto, after running basic vitals and diagnosis on the girl, sighed after she found out she was alive; She took a roll of bandages from her pouch, as a retired shinobi, she knew well to have some of these around.

She tried to cauterize the wounds with a simple fire technique, he was surprised when he saw the wounds sizzling and healing slowly, and the blood slowly stopping pouring from the large wound; Mikoto wrapped the girl around the major wounds, and he watched in astounded surprised as the smaller scratches and bruises disappeared from sight

"We can't leave them here, if we do, there's a great chance that they'll be killed" Mikoto said in a worried tone

_She had no remembrances of the red haired girl, but the blonde kid just struck her with familiarity, she felt an strange tingle of nostalgia whenever she looked at his face, she had no idea why those feelings hit her, but she was sure the blonde had some resemblance with the late Yondaime Hokage, she shook it off as just a mere coincidence._

Then they head the slowly approaching yells of "I've got their trail!" and "We've gotta find them!" and they were on the tip of their feet now.

"Make a Kage Bunshin, Carry both of them, I'll carry Sasuke, we have to go, Now"

Itachi complied and created a copy of himself, he propped the small figures in his arms, and then they shot out in the forest, away from Konoha.

-/-/-

Itachi was pulled back into reality by soft tugs in his shirt by Sasuke.

"What is it, Otouto?"

"Where are we, Aniki?"

"We're on a place far away from home"

"And where are we going?" Itachi pondered in that question for awhile, he couldn't find a true answer

"I... Don't know..."

Sasuke was downcast for awhile, before he propped himself just besides his brother

"Sooo..."

"So what?"

"When are we gunna eat?"

Itachi just chuckled "I bet Anoba has something ready in the kitchen, he always had a banquet there, there was also that special tomato salad..." Itachi could see the gleam in Sasuke's eyes

"Okay then!" Sasuke replied, and they descended the staircase.

And true enough, In the first floor, the second door to the right, There was a large dining area, and on top of a central table there indeed was a many-dish banquet, being that most of them were diversified salads, fruits and vegetables, And there indeed was a Tomato salad; Itachi took a large pear from one of the many bowls; He sat down and started chomping on it; A few minutes passed by, before he heard the low ring of bells, he started paying attention to the conversation

_Greetings, And welcome to Ginuranai Inn and Tavern, How can I serve you?_

_We're in need of a room_

_Ah, Good, May I have your papers? I need to archive everyone that checks a room in here._

_No problem._

_Good, I'll just write down it here, Why did you decide come here in Ginuranai?_

_We're in search from a Nuke-nin, He deliberately murdered his entire clan, after that he kidnapped his almost dead Brother and Mother and fled, The trail took us here to ginuranai, but the storm carried the scent away and we're in need for a shelter until it goes away_

'Crap' Itachi thought

_A-ah, Just a moment please, I'll go archive this very quick and I'll return with your keys in a moment._

_Its fine._

Itachi head a click coming from the adjacent room, The reception was linked to the kitchen by a small hallway.

Anoba handed Itachi a small paper

'_3 Hunter-nin - 2 Jonin - 1 Chunin - Large arsenal - Jiraiya's at Awuka Town, Land of Snow - 10 Minutes'_

Anoba put a hand in Itachi's shoulder and whispered 'Go'

Anoba returned to the reception and started gaining time for them

"Ano... Shinobi san, There seems to be a problem with your files, I just need to confirm them, I promise it won't take more than ten minutes..."

"No Problem"

'These guys are gullible' Itachi thought, Before he grabbed Sasuke by the scruff of his shirt, Muffling his mouth, he swiftly jumped out of the window and Surface-walked until he reached his room's window, He pushed it to the side and climbed in

"Be very, very quiet" He said to Sasuke, Before he started waking up Mikoto "Mother, Mother, We have to go now, There are Konoha-nin here."

The same moment he said the word 'Konoha-nin' she was fully awake;

"What?" Mikoto said, shocked "How did they find us?"

"They have been following our trail, They have a experienced tracker here, we have to leave before they notice us here-"

_Yes, yes, everything is alright, your room is number 401; just go up the stairs, it's the first door to the left, I'll just go get your keys._

Itachi swore internally

"We have to go, Now" Itachi commanded, as he quickly packaged everything he could, Before he made a copy of himself once more '_I'm almost out of chakra, if I keep this pace any longer, I'll have to spend a few days to recover'_

"I'll carry the two of them, you carry Sasuke, we need to flee as fast as we can, I heard Jiraiya is at Awuka, in the land of snow, we'll have to travel for two days, the storm will cover our trail but we have to be careful" Itachi quickly commanded, at Mikoto's nod, they both jumped out of the window.

"I swear I heard something..." Said a nameless man as he opened the doors of room 303

"Shut it, Lizard, You're just sleep deprived" Replied another as she placed her hands in her hips

"But I swear-"

"Shut up"

_**Meanwhile**_

Itachi laughed internally, Either Konoha's Hunter-nin were slacking off in training, or, he was a damn lucky bastard, Most probably the latter, they had one of the most skilled trackers in their team; They sprinted through the wet soil and mud, their footsteps being quickly erased by the ever intensifying thunderstorm overhead;

They kept that pace for long, now the town was far away and hidden behind some hill, and there was no sign of civilization, When there was no lights that could be seen in the distance, they returned to a more sedate pace, Mikoto let Sasuke in the ground, and he started following them closely, She took the blonde from Itachi's Bunshin, who dispersed himself.

They continued walking for a few more hours, The climate began changing again, Now the grayish white clouds had become a opaque black, the rain had become more and more stronger, and each few minutes a resounding thunderclap could be heard in the far distance, The very few trees now had become less and less frequent, and the temperature was slowly lowering;

With the storm increasing in intensity, they could not risk standing out in the open for long, They were risking being hit by a lightning walking in the open like this; Out of the corner of her eye, Mikoto saw a small crevice in a flat part of a hill, she nudged Itachi and changed her route.

She took a look inside, The crevice was just large enough for a human being to go through, and inside was a small sized cave-like formation, the walls were covered in moss and the temperature inside the small cave was warm, They just had found shelter.

"Itachi, Have you brought your survival equipment?" Asked Mikoto

"Some, I was not prepared to leave the village so suddenly, I have barely a week's worth rations and a few camping supplies" Replied Itachi as he carefully took a small scroll from a pouch, Unrolling it he unsealed a Kettle, A Mat and a few Ration bars.

"Good" Said Mikoto, as she laid the blond in the mat, Itachi did the same

"I'll go out search for water and maybe something we can make a bonfire with, you go rest" Said Mikoto, as she left the cave with the Kettle

"Be careful" Replied Itachi, as he rested his back on the wall, a few minutes passed, Itachi closed his eyes and said nothing for a while, "You've been awfully silent" He said, raising his head to look at Sasuke, he was sat just besides the blonde haired kid "What is the problem? You can tell me."

Sasuke puffed his cheeks out "It's just that..." he sighed, resting his head on his hands "All that happened yesterday..." Itachi was about to respond, but Sasuke continued "...I Have to watch you doing everything for us, and I can't even help, I just sit around and watch, it's always like that"

Itachi stood up and walked in Sasuke's direction, Before crouching and Poking him in the forehead "It's just a matter of time, otouto, I'm sure that one day you'll be much much better than me" Said Itachi, Smiling.

Sasuke pouted at first, But then he smiled widely and hugged Itachi "You bet, Aniki! one day I'll beat all of you! I'll be the strongest one to ever ever, Ever live!" Claimed Sasuke, Puffing his chest out

Itachi just chuckled at his brother's antics, Children could be so naïve.

"I'm back" Mikoto announced from outside, as she walked inside, carrying the Kettle and a few twigs and snapped branches

"That was fast" Itachi claimed, as he rested his back on the cave's walls

"There is a small water spring to the east, and although it may be contaminated, getting the water was easy; The hard part was finding wood that wouldn't make a lot of smoke and wasn't completely soaked"

Itachi just nodded as he moved to the edge of the cave, closer to the exit, He organized the material in a circular fashion as he placed the kettle in the middle, Lighting the fire was easy, There were several Techniques created for that same reason, There also existed a book called "Ninja Survival and Camping 101", Which listed over a hundred and fifty E-C Class Jutsu that could be applied to Trapping, Fishing, Collecting, Hunting and as of such, as well as tips, guides, maps and information, A shame he hadn't one with him now.

The fire was lit, However the wood was so wet it would take some time to dry up and burn properly, Itachi moved back to another corner of the cave, He rested his back and lowered his head, and not long after, he was asleep.

_Traitor._

_It's all your fault._

_You could have come with us._

_I hate you._

_Monster._

_Die._

Nightmares were commonplace for Shinobi, their duty was Kill or be killed, protect or see it burn; The rule applied to a Large majority of the Shinobi population, Specially the younger ones, That included Itachi.

Itachi snapped awake, Beads of cold sweat rolling down his skin, He saw the fire burning calmly, There was more wood, and a small stack of branches by its side, The day had now turned to a cold and stormy night; He couldn't see twenty feet out of the crevice before it was all obfuscated by mist.

He stood admiring the astonishing clouds of mist, before something clicked in his mind, There should be no mist, Not this dense, anyways; His eyes then widened when he sensed three moving chakra signatures.

'_Darn'_

He started searching his pockets and pouches wildly, it took some time but he found it, A hard, spherical black pill; He popped it inside his mouth and swallowed it entirely, seconds later, he felt the sudden kick in energy

"Kage bunshin no Jutsu" he whispered, Producing a single clone.

He shook his mother awake, He made a single hand seal, of the kind used in silent communication, That one was simple, it meant '_Enemy_'; Eyes widened, Mikoto shot awake and rushed to Sasuke, Picking him up; While Itachi and his clone picked up Naruto and Naomi, respectively.

Itachi quickly resealed his camping equipment and rushed out of the crevice, Mikoto following him closely; However, After Running a few Yards, a explosion went off at their feet, Forcing them to jump away; Itachi made another clone of himself; Hastily handing off the redhead to him; He turned around, unsheathing his tanto and positioning for battle.

"You flee, I'll take them" Itachi commanded, before turning to the tree figures that landed in front of him

"Itachi uchiha, You've been convicted of Mass Murdering, Kidnapping, Treason and Defection, Surrender now or face the consequences" Said a female voice;

The Sandaime had mentioned the day after he issued his order that he would send Hunter-nin, only so that it would be authenticated that Itachi had become a missing-nin, not causing suspicion in the village; However, there was something strange here; The Hunter-nin to be sent were to be easy to take down so that he could make a smooth escape, but she was one of the most experienced hunter-nin and trackers of Konoha; Now he felt very lucky that he managed to escape the inn without being noticed.

Itachi kept silent and stood in his standard stance; Sharingan flicking into existence.

"Alright then, Boys, get him" She said calmly, and in the next moment he was bombarded with Senbon

"Doton: Iwakageiseki" Whispered itachi, Forming a spherical dome of earth around him, Just as the senbon were about to hit him;

The female Hunter-nin rushed forwards, crushing the dome with a axe-like weapon, but she found inside just a piece of stone;

Looking around, she tried to find Itachi, only to receive a powerful blow to the base of her neck, making her drop to the ground, Itachi used that moment to incapacitate her with a lateral cut but she rolled and blocked it just before he could hit, Itachi had to jump away to avoid a volley of kunai that shot out of nowhere;

From the mist, jumped another one, that held in his hands a large sword, he rushed in Itachi's direction with unbelievable speed, Itachi dodged his first swing and blocked a second one, then he had to jump away to prevent being smashed by the female's weapon.

"Raiton: Hiraishin" Yelled the third one, as a streak of lightning came in his direction; Itachi barely dodged it, Before he could reassume his stance one more technique came in his direction;

"Katon: Hōsenka" The same one yelled, as a large volley of fire bullets came rushing into his direction, Itachi managed to deflect most of them but was hit by one of them in his left forearm;

Using that small moment of distraction, the female rushed into Itachi's direction and slammed her weapon against his back; Throwing him against the ground violently, a second later the third member of their group prepared to stab Itachi with his sword but when he landed the hit Itachi deformed into a flock of crows;

Itachi quickly reformed behind the third member, who was hidden on top of a hill, Itachi jabbed his neck, causing the man to drop unconscious; He then started sprinting towards the others again, coming from behind them Itachi engaged the sword wielding one; the man blocked his attacks, However, due to the weight of his weapon, the man couldn't block a hit aimed for his shoulder, the following hit made a cut halfway to his bone, the man flinched in pain and dropped his weapon, Itachi spun, kicking the back of the man's neck, Making him drop to the ground, Itachi then had to dodge a blow from the female;

"The Two of them are already down, are you sure you want to continue this battle?" Itachi asked nonchalantly; His only reply was a smirk and the feeling of dormancy on his legs, and then, the sizzling of a bomber tag on the ground.

Itachi tried to jump away, but he was caught in the blast, which threw him away forcefully, throwing his tanto away into the deep mist; He landed ungracefully and rolled on his back; He begun standing up but before he could stand still a powerful blow to his back made him drop down to the ground, knocking him off;

"Game over" she said, holding some chains and preparing to bind him; She moved over his body, crouching down; She had tied his legs together and his hands were forced to his sides, in a way he couldn't budge them a inch;

"Time to wake these idiots up" She said, but before she could move to her partner, a sharp blow to her head knocked her out cold; A tall man in a white and gray cape walked over to Itachi, Crouching over him, before another figure with the same clothing, but not nearly as tall mover closer to him;

"Should we take them back to base?" asked the shorter one

"Only the Uchiha" Answered the taller one, at that the other figure just nodded and proceeded to move the Hunter-nin's to a clearing, the other one threw Itachi over his shoulder and began walking away.

"Go find his companions, Send a letter to Jiraiya" the tall man Ordered; and the shorter one ran off into some direction.

_**Meanwhile**_

Mikoto and Itachi's clones were rushing through the ever denser mist in the night, Sasuke was clinging tightly into Mikoto's clothes;

Suddenly, Itachi's clones stopped, they laid both of children in the ground before both of them dispersed into a small cloud of smoke;

A grim look surged on Mikoto's face; '_Itachi has been knocked out... or worse...'_ She let Sasuke in the ground, before she placed her hands into a cross-like shape, before two clones of herself appeared, Mikoto hunched over and fell to her knees;

"Kaa-san, Kaa-san! are you alright?" Asked Sasuke worriedly;

"Yes, I am fine, Just a bit... Rusty" She replied with a smile, Her clones took hold of the children once more and they continued walking and after a few minutes of walking, the mist started clearing away, They kept walking towards the north for a few more hours before she saw a small rundown hut by the side of a lake, they walked in closer;

Mikoto walked around the house two times before she knocked at the front door, "Anyone home?" Mikoto yelled outside the house, hearing no answer, she opened the door and walked inside; The space was small and it looked like no-one was here in years.

She laid down the unconscious children in the ground, dispelling her clones, she herself then rested her back against the wooden walls of the small shack.

A few hours passed by, Mikoto had driven off to a light sleep, and the sun was about to rise.

Mikoto snapped awake when she felt movement outside the shack, _'Please be a deer, please be a rabbit, please be any harmless animal...'_ she mentally pleaded; She was then paralyzed when she heard the sound of knocking at the door; She kept herself still despite the continuous knocking.

"I know you're there, just know Itachi is fine, we have him in our base, Jiraiya-sama has received a messenger and is coming to our base as we speak" Mikoto's eyes widened, and she quickly ran to the door, Opening it, she only saw a square piece of paper in the ground and no-one to be seen.

_**Back with Itachi**_

Almost a whole day had passed when he woke up, he found himself on a white bed with a thin blanket covering him; His eyes were covered with a thick material of some sort, he tried removing it but it wouldn't budge;

Then it clicked

_'I got captured and I'm in a hospital room, my eyes have been harvested'_

Sudden panic shot through his mind, and he jumped off the bed only to have his legs fail him and spasm, thus he dropped down to the ground with an 'oof', Trying to get up, he found that he could barely move anything without having it spasm completely

"What the hell?" he said before he heard footsteps and the screeching of a door handle

"Ah, Itachi-san, I would suggest you try not to move, you were poisoned nastily and your eyes were strained, you will not be able to feel them for a few days, neither will you be able to see, sadly" Said a sweet voice

Itachi was confused, If he was in Konoha, it was most probable that he would be treated as a traitor, but he did not receive what he expected.

"Where am I?" Itachi asked

The unknown figure produced a hum sound and replied "Shiromizu Base, Redacted Location, Water Country" before it moved and helped Itachi back into the bed "We have sent a messenger to contact Jiraiya-sama, He will be arriving in a day or so" Itachi hmm'ed and laid down his head back into the cushion "And who are you?"

The person took a few seconds before it answered "I'm Shirasu, Real name Redacted, Age is 23, Jounin-Rank", Itachi just continued staring into dark nothingness.

"Where are Otouto and Kaa-san?" He asked out of the blank

"We've sent a tracker to contact them, she should be back at any moment now..."And as if on cue, the metallic clanks of a steel gate were heard and then footsteps echoed, the click of the wooden door was heard again

"Shirasu, The message has been delivered, We should expect them to arrive in a few hours."

"Thank you Hakuen, I'll get the preparations done for the meeting" Itachi noticed that both of the figures left the room and he was left alone in his room, completely defenseless and unable to move.

He sighed profoundly.

_'Just on what mess have I gotten into?'_

-/-/-

**A.N:**

_Revised (14/11/15)_

Well, Here it is, It's a bit shorter than what I expected and is more of a Filler chapter than a actual chapter, It did not turn out how I would like it to have and I'm both sorry and ashamed for that... Oh well... sorry for the delay anyways, I really didn't mean to take that long, I had a whole chapter planned, but then I had to hand out my notebook because I would get a new PC; however the Graphics Card and Motherboard weren't compatible so I had to wait full two weeks to get my new PC, and even after I got it I ended up forgetting my plans, and also ended up in the worst writers block I've ever had (Actually it's more like a writer's shot to the head, Because I had absolutely no idea what to write after that)

Well, There's no explaining to my incompetence as an author, A new chapter will come in the future, with no specific date for it to come.

Replies to Reviews:

**Unknown987**: I feel bad for having to kill Minami though, They will find a friendly fox in the future! (Please bite it, please bite it...)

**Anarion87**: Thank you!

**Ncpfan**: Thank you, I plan on making Naomi into a very important and immersive OC.

**Kit (guest)**: Danzo will receive his punishment in due time, And Naomi will survive, Sorry, I Tried a take at Harem once but I failed miserably, Though I'll consider possible pairings

**Dasher911:** Thank you!

This is all for today;

Ja ne!


	3. Arc I: Gathering

-/-/-

_Disclaimer: I Do not own Naruto_

-/-/-

_**Belong**_

_**Arc I: The Birth of a Rising Legend**_

_**Chapter 3: Gathering**_

-/-/-

_**In the Fields of the Land of Fire**_

"Soldier, Status" Said a deep voice.

"We haven't yet found the boy, But we've found the burnt remains of Squad 18's members" Replied a tired voice trough the little speaker

"Darnit, Search more" Demanded the voice, Sighing deeply

"Whats it, Kouzai?" This time, a feminine voice said

"Squad 18 has been eliminated completely" The man replied nonchalantly

"Ah, damn Uchihas, always been a disgrace to our village" The woman said, while crossing her arms behind her head.

"And you could help us for once, couldn't you, you lazy bastard?" Said the male once more, glaring to the third member of the squad, who was walking behind a few meters

"Mhm..." said the third man, looking up for a brief moment, before returning to his lazy pace

"Grah..." The first man growled "This we'll never catch up to them, that is if they haven't yet left the Fire Country..."

As if on cue, the speaker started producing sound again.

"Sir, We've reached the end of the trail, it just... disappears, like they poofed or went flying away"

The male growled once again.

-/-/-

_**Inside the Shiromizu Base**_

_**With Itachi**_

Itachi sighed for what seemed the umpteenth time that day, not able to see, not able to move, it was just horridly boring, at least he got to hear the conversations that went out around him.

He heard about lots of things, most of it just idle chatter of random nameless people; He even heard from a guy that was dumped by his girlfriend because she found another person more attractive, and in the end she got rejected too, poor people, He chuckled at that.

He was quite unsettled although, when the sounds of talking turned into whispers, and chatter of 'into position' and 'he has returned' started, sounds of people frantically marching around, carrying boxes and unidentifiable objects that made a metallic screeching sound.

-/-/-

_**In Konohagakure no Sato**_

Hiruzen Sarutobi wasn't a anxious person.

But now it looked like he could take a nice cold bath, and a cigarette, and a nice bottle of booze.

He walked from one side to the room to the other, He was covered in cold sweat, His door was barraged so no-one could get in the conventional way, his hands were shaking so much he could probably cause an earthquake.

Well, anyone would be like that, when half of the village was burnt to a crisp, the entire Shinobi Corps was in chaos, almost all of the available ANBU personnel were deployed and the villagers were basically in an all out riot and one of the most prominent clans of Konoha had been completely slaughtered; Oh, and you're the responsible for all of that.

He was too old for that; Way too old.

And from seemingly nowhere, a large figure propped up in the Old Kage's window "Whats going on, Old Man?"

The man simply looked at the figure with the corner of his eye, and continued walking from one side to the other of the room "Oh Jiraya, Chaos, Chaos is what is going on"

"Well, I can see that" Jiraya replied, pointing towards where he came from

Sarutobi sighed for the umpteenth time that day and flopped down in his chair "This was not what I had planned, at all, First the Uchiha, And now Naruto-kun and Naomi-chan"

"Wait, What happened with them?"

"We have absolutely no idea, they were gone, and their treehouse in the forest was... a pile of rubble when the shinobi arrived there"

The white-haired man sighed deeply "I'm going to look out for them"

"Thats exactly why I called you here, consider this a S-Ranked mission" Said Hiruzen in a low voice

Jiraya nodded, and in another second he was gone in a puff of smoke.

The Old Hokage thought about his dead successor, Minato."I Hope ghosts can't see us from the other world, otherwise, when I die... Gods know what'll happen" He said, remembering the blonde's Wife's short temper.

He heard the door click once, then twice, and in the next second someone just poofed in front of him.

"What is it now; Danzo?"

Hiruzen did not even pay attention to the man, choosing to ignore whatever he was saying, but he couldn't drive away the sudden, yet subtle headache he was having, His hands moved to a pencil, and he started just writing away mindlessly.

-/-/-

_**Deep inside the Shiromizu base**_

A man walked down the long stone hallways, however he was not like the rest, instead of the grey/black uniform most of the wore, this one was wearing pure white.

It would not seem much, however the fact that everyone was bowing at him as he walked and his very stance demanded respect wronged that.

It seemed as every step he took had a deep purpose in it, His white cloak flailed behind him in an unnatural manner, as if the wind favored the place where he stood, it had a high collar that surrounded his head, apart from the front, His hair was milk white, and long, tied behind him in a ponytail that went to his waist, as his face was framed by two bangs, in his left hand he brought a large scythe, easily twice as tall as the man, who himself was absurdly tall, towering almost every other being in the hall, His face was covered by a pristine white mask, almost glowing, with a red slash going over the right eye, he had two swords, each strapped to one side of his waist, while many small pouches and containers where held by a belt, and the man's hand, the only uncovered part of skin that could be easily seen, had a sickly pale color, almost completely white.

He went past a few dozen grey clad people before he reached the end of the hall, the looks of the people so far was quite similar, grey cloaks or lab coats with black details and a simple white mask, with either nothing, one, two or three chevron shapes in the forehead, displaying rank.

However when he reached the end of the hall five different looking people could be seen, each wearing different uniforms and masks.

"Lord Arashi" A booming voice said first, Dotoka, A tall person, almost as tall as the white-clad man, Bowing deeply, this man was wearing a black sleeveless cloak with many brown horizontal slashes, and cargo pants, with a large hammer strapped to his back, it could be seen that the man's skin was of a dark brown color, he was wearing a white mask with a brown triangle shape in the middle, and he had short spiky brown hair.

"Sir" A Calm voice, way too lazy, Kirishi, He didn't even move, he wasn't as tall as Dotoka or Arashi, and was a feet and a few inches shorter than them, he was wearing a black lab coat with Green details, many small pouches attached to his leggings and belt, and a simple tanto blade strapped to his side, he wore long gauntlets, that went almost all the way to his elbow, only a small patch of his skin could be seen, of which was a slightly tanned color, his hair was a deep black and his mask was a light green color, with a deep moss coloured four-tipped star symbol on the forehead

"Arashi-sama" Said a third voice, Shirasu, nodding her head, She was easily the shortest of the group, almost two feet shorter than Kirishi, she was wearing a simple yellow dress with black details, that showed a lot of her lightly tanned skin and a big portion of cleavage, the feminine look however was challenged by the many blades strapped to her legs and the large claymore she propped herself upon, she had shoulder length hair of a light hazel color, her mask was a pale yellow, with a golden narrow diamond shape in the middle, where the nose would be.

"...Hm, 'Rashi" This one was much more nonchalant, Kage, A man as tall as Arashi, if not a few inches taller; Raising his hand in a three-finger salute, the man in white nodded his head back to this man, Kage wore a full black cloak, completely pitch black, With many dark plates of armor covering his cloak and clothing. his mask was also completely black, with four white circles in the forehead, and no patch of skin was visible, as the man was completely covered.

The last one greeted the man differently though, she hopped forwards and gave the man a hug, of which he returned, her look was also very eye-catching, she was Hakuen, she was shorter than Arashi by almost two feet, she wore a long dress with a dark burgundy color, with black flower designs at the bottom, her skin was a healthy pale color, Her hair was a deep crimson, which was tied to a ponytail behind her head, that went down to her knees, as a single bang covered her left eye, held by a pair of black hair clips; Her mask was different from the others, it resembled a cat, with a upside-down 'v' shaped mouth and three whisker marks on each cheek, and the eye slits where elongated on the corners; and behind her back was strapped a bo-staff with steel tips, and she had a black pouch strapped to her side by her belt. "I'm glad you're finally back" She said, her voice was calm and soothing, almost angelic.

They then separated from the embrace, turning around, he stood before a large wooden door, Placing his hands on the door, clicks could be head echoing through the hall as the door slowly deformed into nothingness; He walked inside the room, heading to furthest end of the huge table that was centered in the room, the remaining people followed him suit, the numerous ones with simple grey uniform and masks stood by foot at the corners of the room, and the few remaining who had three chevron shapes at their foreheads sat down in the numerous wooden chairs.

The large wooden door slowly reformed behind them, closing the room completely, the only point of illumination being a large lamp in the ceiling of the room.

The white-clad figure took in a deep breath, before his silky voice echoed through "Please, put your masks away if you wish, We don't need to conceal ourselves here" He was the first one to remove his mask, but not much was revealed other than a extremely pale skin and a deep cerulean eye, as a large portion of his face was bandaged, namely, the Right side portion.

Slowly, one by one, every single person inside the room removed their masks, revealing their faces; Dotoka had a large nose and deep black eyes, and the left side of his face was a few shades lighter and seemed scarred, Kirishi had dark green eyes, when he removed his mask he pulled a pair of glasses from one of the pouches of his coat, Shirasu had light hazel eyes and a narrow nose, Kage did not remove his mask, however he emphasized his point by making sure that the straps of his mask and armor were firmly in place, and Hakuen removed her mask, as soon as she did her bang fell back into place, covering that side of her face, she had a large smile on her face and her eyes were a light violet color.

Arashi proceeded to file through a few of the papers that were already on the table, he gave a silent signal to one of the people before a projection appeared on the wall behind him. "Now, let us proceed... As you know, we'll be visited by one of the Three Tokubetsu Sannin is a few hours, so I want to get this done with as fast as we can, The same thing as every week, I want a report from all operations that occurred in this week, Team Neros may begin"

A few whispers went around in the team in the back of the room, before a seated man, one of the few with three chevrons on their mask, it was a tanned man with average complexion and a rust colored hair stood up and threw a large notebook on the table "Yo, all ya need to know is in there, I made sure that everything is described nicely" The man said, then returning to his seat

"Thank you... Team Elvandes"

This time a man with curly brown hair from the far back of the room delivered a neatly stacked pile of papers to the table, without saying a single word, and returned to his position.

This simple routine continued for each of the ten teams, each of them delivered either a notebook or a pile of papers describing each of their actions during the week; Before he reached the eleventh and last team.

"...Team Storm, Report"

'Dotoka' chuckled "You wouldn't believe half of the things we say- oh wait, you will... Hmmm... Shall we begin with... The Uchihas are pretty much extinct?"

'Arashi' raised the eyebrow of his only visible eye "...Elaborate"

This time it was Shirasu who replied "We don't know the details, one of Jiraiya-sama's operators relayed this to us, You'll get much more from Jiraiya himself, all we know is that the elders are involved and that the village is in deep and utter chaos"

Arashi leaned back into his seat, taking in another breath, as if considering something "Thanks for the information, Its nice knowing the details... That explains the missing Jinchuuriki"

Everyone in the room looked at Arashi with more interest, Except Kage "So you've heard, Too?"

"It's part of our long term plans, Of course I would have heard, The eye sees all" Said Arashi, glaring towards Kage

"We've been delaying the project for too much time now, We have to begin as soon as we can, i suggest we start now... That the Nine-Tails and the Mangekyou Sharingan are on our grasp, The opposing parties could start to act before us." Continued Kage

"No, We have to wait for the perfect time, if we act too soon or too late, everything will fall against us" Arashi reasoned

"Hell, We're so close to fulfilling our objectives, and you're just slowing us! If we just go out with it now, They would not be able to regain their strength before we go out with the main procedure!" Yelled Kage

Arashi seemed to consider that for awhile, however he replied with a shake of his head "Its better if we wait, believe me"

Kage scoffed and sent the man a middle finger "Asshole"

Arashi just turned nonchalantly, before he glared into the eye slots of Kage's mask "I suppose you're beginning to think you're the one who controls all of this place, will I have to remember you who is in charge?" That was said in such a way that a 'shut up, or I'll kill you' would be much less threatening.

Kage instantly shut up, Shrinking down in his seat "No"

"I didn't hear you" Said arashi in a deep voice

"Sir, No sir, I will obey to your order"

"Good" Arashi also sat back down "Team Storm, I expect a report with every single detail of what occurred within the Village of Konohagakure within today, in my desk, seeing you don't have a proper report made..." he stood up "Unless someone has something to talk about, I call this meeting over" He waited a second, A few whispers could be heard and a few menial questions were asked, of which all of them were answered instantly, the large wooden door at the far end of the room deformed once again

"Please return to your regular activities, if anyone requires me, I'll be in my quarters, The next meeting is set exactly seven days from now unless any unpredictable events occur" Arashi said in a commanding tone, dismissing the soldiers present in the room.

Everyone replaced their masks, Slowly, The room started to empty out, Until only he and Hakuen were inside the room.

"Hakuen... You've been awfully quiet today, and its only when I'm present, has something happened?"

"I... I... Just have a lot on my mind... And I can't stop worrying about... Her" Replied Hakuen in a small voice

Arashi chuckled "Don't worry, Hime, she's a strong, grown up girl, She can get through anything that anyone throws at her; Also I'm always keeping an eye on her" He gave her a sweet smile; That was mirrored by her

"When do you think we'll be able to... start The Operation?" She changed her tone again, now looking more anxious.

The man hummed, Looking to the ceiling, Where some details were engraved in the stone "Soon, very soon, The time is coming... And when we start, This withered land will once again see the Light"

They both smiled, The prospect of their dreams coming to reality brightening them.

-/-/-

_**With Jiraiya**_

Today was a day full of surprises for the white-maned man.

Of course, he wasn't worried about Naruto or Naomi, he knew they were safe with Mikoto close by, she wouldn't let anyone touch a hair from their heads if she got angry.

He knew very well where they would be, He had been contacted by one of his co-operatives a few hours ago. Time to make the reunion with his spies once more.

He set out for the Land of Water

-/-/-

_**In the coast of The Land of Fire**_

_**With Mikoto and the Children**_

Mikoto gave a low groan, before her eyes opened a little bit and she sat up, Stretching her arms, Yawning.

She looked to the side, seeing the three children still sound asleep, deep into unconsciousness; Getting up, she walked over to the girl, pulling her bandages up a little so she could inspect them; seeing the damage, she winced.

"We need to get you some medicine, really soon" She whispered, frowning; the smaller bruises and cuts were completely gone but the larger had barely shrunk.

Looking to the side, she saw the blonde stir a little bit, she crawled closer to him, he opened his eyes for a brief moment, looking her right in the face, before he turned over and set out to sleep again

'_Those eyes... Are the same color as Kushina's_' she thought, Noticing the purple coloration in his eyes

Then it clicked in her mind, Her eyes widened, it all made sense for a brief moment, He had Kushina's Eyes and jaw line, but everything else was Minato's; and the girl... Looked exactly like Minato, except for the hair and face, if they swapped those little details they would look just like Minato and Kushina.

'_I Can't believe this' _She thought, falling back first into the dusty wooden floor _'It's impossible, they're supposed to be dead, I saw them die'_ Her hands were covering her eyes _'So it was a lie, a trick, all this time... Wasn't it, Sarutobi?' _ She choked out a sob, before she recomposed and stood up.

"It's time to get moving..." She said, reading out the exact location of where the note had told her to go, She had always trusted Jiraiya with her life, and all of his informants were completely loyal to him, all she could do was trust whoever it was that delivered her the note.

She woke up Sasuke, created a clone of herself and then they departed once more in a calm pace.

Strange, the sky was so dark yesterday, now there wasn't even a cloud in sight for miles

-/-/-

_**Back Into the Shiromizu base**_

_**With Itachi**_

He'd been there for hours and hours already, in complete silence.

Complete.

Not a single chirp, rumble or sound, he couldn't even hear his own heartbeat, and for some reason his mind went blank too, thoughtless, and it was exhausting.

They say silence is golden, but, gods damn it, sound is platinum.

And it went on and on like that for more and more time...

He groaned, trying to turn over finding a more comfortable spot, only to have his muscles wobble like crazy.

He sighed. Again.

-/-/-

A few hours Later...

-/-/-

_**With Jiraiya**_

He was there, after walking through a huge marsh, having to cross a sea, concealing himself from Kirigakure ninja, he found the darn place; the entrance was quite monumental, but really only looked like a rundown shrine unless you really observed each and little detail.

He turned a stone here, one there, pushed one back down the wall, crooked the branch of that tree, and bam, a loud click was heard and a wall in the stone was opened, Well, they did know how to hide an entrance.

Walking inside the tunnel, he noticed the well concealed traps sizzling onto a blue color, not triggering with his presence.

After he was a quite a distance inside the tunnel, a voice greeted him.

"Ahem, Hoy jiraiya, We were waitin', follow me." It was Kirishi, He dragged himself across the tunnel, Jiraiya just raised a eyebrow at the man, but followed him nevertheless.

The tunnel went on quite far before they reached a much neater place, where the walls were polished, a iron gate moved out of the way just as Kirishi was close to it; Doors lead out to many rooms and the hall divided into many subsections, many grey-clad people went past the pair, nodding to Kirishi and Jiraiya respectfully; Kirishi continued leading Jiraiya through the maze-like base before they reached a large wooden door, In front of it Arashi and Hakuen were waiting.

Jiraiya and Arashi shook hands, and Jiraiya gave a bow to Hakuen, who politely returned the action (and he would argue was definitely not because he could see a glimpse of her breasts when she bowed down!) And they walked inside the room; Before they started to talk

"So, how have you been Jiraiya-dono?" Asked Arashi.

"You could say I've been quite good, What about the two of you?" Jiraiya replied with a shrug

"I can say the same, our business has been extremely productive over the last few months, when we moved a few of our operations to the Land of Earth" Arashi replied

"Ah, that is sure good to hear" Jiraiya said with a nod

"Hmm... Pleasantries aside, let's move on to business shall we?" Arashi said, before he sat down with Hakuen, Jiraiya also sat down in a chair just by his side "So what have you got for us this time, my friend?" Inquired Arashi, in a friendly tone

"I've got that information you wanted so much on the locations of each of the bijuu, I could not get much about the Yonbi, Gobi and Rokubi, as they're wandering around in hiding, however I can confirm Yonbi and Gobi are quite close, in the northern part of the land of earth, their names go by Han and Roshi, Respectively, and the Rokubi is in the southern isles of the land of water, which one don't ask me, but he goes by Utakata, The rest of the Bijuu are confined within their villages, except the Kyuubi, but I got a folder on all of them, with some info on their Jinchuuriki too..." Said Jiraiya, as he tossed a large scroll on the floor, unwrapping it, he unsealed a thick folder, and handed it to Arashi

Arashi skimmed through the few first pages, before he gave an 'ah' sound "Likewise, I got some information you wanted from us, About the Akatsuki, We managed to implant a agent in there, took a long while, but it did not take much time for him to be killed by his 'partner' in an 'accidental' way, I believe it was Kakuzu of Takigakure who killed him, but we managed to get some information on their member roster..." Arashi tossed a scroll to jiraiya, Jiraiya just pocketed the thing as they continued to talk, Before Jiraiya reached a quite intriguing topic.

"And do you think Naruto and Naomi are safe, The hosts of the Kyuubi?" Asked Jiraiya.

Arashi looked up to the man "Ah, Don't worry, I wouldn't let your godson and your goddaughter get hurt in any ways, after all they're also important to me, I've got one of my best combatants following the mother to the Uchiha Heir, who is taking direction right to us, they'll be outside of any potential danger should it arise, and Konoha will not be a problem I can assure you that"

Jiraiya nodded back to the man, before he made another question "And the Operation, When do you plan to start it?"

Arashi seemed to be deep in thought, as he gave a low humming sound and laid back into his seat. "Soon, We'll soon be able to start a full-scale Operation, our funds have already been acquired and we have got agents inside the Daimyo palaces, it will not take much effort"

Jiraiya nodded back towards the man, "So I guess we'll be able to end this cycle of Hatred for once, won't we?" Said Jiraiya, with a little smirk on the corner of his mouth.

"...Soon, Very soon we'll see the rain of enlightenment fall upon this cursed land" Said Arashi sagely, in a voice much deeper than his own.

-/-/-

_**With Mikoto**_

Mikoto had been walking for quite a long time now, the sun had moved quite a bit on the sky, a clone of herself carried Naruto while she herself carried Naomi, Sasuke walked behind the pair, with a tired look on his face, he gave a yawn each few minutes.

Even if the surrounding forest was quite silent, with the sounds of chirping birds, their footsteps and the occasional ruffle of the leaves due to the wind, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched, however each time she turned she felt the presence go to the complete opposite way, she was beginning to think she had finally turned crazy from all the stress.

She continued through the thin shrub land amidst the trees for a few hours longer, where she eventually reached a beach, where a tall stone pillar could be seen, She sighed upon reaching the place

"Finally..." She walked closer to the obelisk, the note told that she would be escorted by an agent from there on, but she couldn't see anyone, and as if on cue, the presence she felt earlier was closing in on her, fast.

She turned around, pulling a kunai she had hidden in her dress, she now faced a grey-clad person, with a white mask and two black chevrons on the forehead; She was holding Naruto with a single arm, and Sasuke stood back with Mikoto's clone.

"Mistress Uchiha, I've come to lead you to our settlement" Said the man, giving her a low bow.

She seemed not to believe the man, she held her Kunai protectively, in a wobbly stance that got rusty after many years without practice.

"I can assure you that I mean no harm, I work directly under my commander's word, and I was relayed order from Master Jiraiya that I was to escort you completely safe until we reached our settlement"

Mikoto calmed at that "...Where are you taking us?"

"The Shiromizu settlement is a hideout deep within the land of water, I'll prepare a reverse summoning seal aimed directly inside our base, but it will take a few minutes to prepare"

Mikoto nodded back, as she laid back down on the floor, setting Naruto down besides her, with his head on her lap; The unnamed shinobi walked forwards into the rock obelisk and started to write down seals with red paint; Sasuke moved closer to her, sitting besides Mikoto, as her clone also set Naomi down, before dispersing.

'I really need to train...' Mikoto thought to herself 'I could make dozens of these clones for hours without feeling any drain, I'm getting rusty...'

A few minutes later, the man finished the seal array, which was a few feet across, he signaled to Mikoto. "Miss, the seal is done, we shall depart as soon as you're ready" he said, moving forwards, helping her up, she picked up Naruto gingerly, as the man mimicked the action when he picked Naomi up "She needs treatment, those wounds could become worse, lets hurry up shall we?"

Mikoto nodded, she called to Sasuke, who followed the pair up to the side of the rock, He made a few single-handed hand seals and in a second later, the five of them were gone in a cloud of smoke, along with the seal; and now somewhere far away, deep inside the Land of Water.

-/-/-

**A.N: **

_(Revised 14/11/15)_

Ohai my fellow readers/followers, Another chapter up, way shorter than usual, Sorry for the (Huge) delay; This time up we got to know a bit more about the yet unnamed organization (No, it's not Shiromizu, that's just the name of the place)

No reviews to reply to this time :/


	4. Arc I: Awoken

-/-/-

_Disclaimer: I Do not own Naruto_

-/-/-

_**Belong**_

_**Arc I: The Birth of a Rising Legend**_

_**Chapter 4: Awoken**_

-/-/-

_**In The Shiromizu Base**_

_**With Mikoto and the Children &amp; a Unnamed Soldier**_

Mikoto hadn't expected for a reverse summoning to be so sudden and violent, it remembered her of a time long ago when she was teleported by the Yondaime Hokage's Hiraishin jutsu... And likewise, she barely held the urge to throw up; Sasuke wasn't so lucky.

The soldier didn't even show any emotion, he just started walking forwards with Naomi in tow, Signaling for the rest of the group to follow him, They were on a cylindrical room with a tribal pattern painted on the floor and walls, she supposed that was a seal matrix destination that linked those with the reverse summoning seal to the base, but she couldn't be sure.

They left the room and reached a long hallway, well illuminated, the floor was covered with detailed ceramic tiles and a few feet ahead the hallway divided in two, then again dividing more and more, with a few doors each every few meters and the odd potted plant and painting, While walking down the hallway, a few more figures dressed just like the man were seen passing them by, not minding their presence.

They continued a few minutes longer walking the long hallways before they reached a large room, with many benches by the sides and few decorations in the walls, the was a large desk in the far end of the room and two hallways by each side of the desk; The soldier approached the desk, before a woman propped herself up from below the desk, with a few folders in her arms, she was dressed in a white apron over a dark gray lab coat, that seemed much similar to the uniforms being worn by the other people she had seen, However her mask was different, the base was white like all the others and there was a single chevron on the forehead, but below it was a diamond shape.

She looked directly at the two unconscious children, before a quiet ringing sound could be heard, and suddenly two more people appeared from their sides, wearing the exact same uniform as the woman did, one of them took the girl from the soldier wordlessly, nodding to him, the soldier then disappeared in a small cloud of smoke, indicating a shunshin.

The other medic then nodded over to Mikoto, as if asking her permission to take Naruto, she complied, and the medic then took Naruto from Mikoto's arms, The secretary calmly looked over the remaining people in front of the desk, the man nodded at her and she opened a folder. "Room H23, Left hall" she said in a monotone, and the man turned to the left and continued through the hallway soon the place changed mood and the floor was covered in marble tiles, and the walls were completely white, giving the place a sterile look, now the hallway was completely straight and went on and on, she could barely see the end, where what she supposed was a metal gate in the end of the hall, and each every few meters they walked there was a white door with a number in it.

They walked to the end of the hall until they reached the room dubbed "H23", In front of it just two more before they reached the metal gate, One of the medics placed his hand over the door and a click could be heard, before the door opened.

Now, Itachi had been there laying down for quite a while, In fact he could count almost a day and a half since he woke up the first time; it had been extremely quiet for a long time, so he gave a light flinch when he heard his door open so suddenly.

"Itachi, You have visitors" The same medic said "We'll be taking these two to the next room" The medic then whispered, only so he and Mikoto could hear; before they walked ahead into room H24

Mikoto raised her eyebrow, just before she noticed who was in the bed; At the same time Sasuke did.

"Itachi/Nii-san!" They chorused together, before each of them was in a side of the bed Itachi was laying down.

"Oh, Kaa-san, Otouto, Its good to finally hear you arrived" He smiled to them, not being really able to see their faces.

"What happened to your eyes? Are you alright? Did they do anything to you? How are you feeling?" Mikoto asked hurriedly, with Sasuke looking anxiously towards them.

"My eyes are sore, I'm good, They did not harm me, And I'm feeling better now that you're here" Itachi said, replying to his mother's many questions; Before she hugged him, Itachi just gave a light wince but did not move otherwise.

After a few seconds it was Sasuke's turn to talk "Aniki! How were the ninja they you fought with? Were they strong?"

Itachi chuckled at Sasuke's change in topic. "They were quite strong I believe, I would have almost defeated them but I guess I underestimated them a little bit, so they got me on surprise"

They heard the door click open again, before a woman in a Yellow dress walked it, Shirasu

"Ah, I guess you've arrived safely then" Shirasu said, smiling at them behind her mask.

Mikoto turned towards the woman "Who are you?"

"Ah, that was so impolite of me" Shirasu said, bowing "I go by Shirasu, I'm afraid I can't tell you my real name, I'm the head medic of this place, I guess you could say I'm a Jounin"

Mikoto nodded at the woman "I am Mikoto, Itachi's mother"

Shirasu chuckled "Well, I knew that much... Uchiha Mikoto, Thirty two years old, Jounin of Konohagakure no Sato, Retired from duty after you gave birth to Itachi, Formerly Known as The Black Death, For her ferocity in the battlefield along with the now deceased Red Death in the Third Great War... Did I get everything right?" Shirasu said matter-of-factly, As the more she spoke higher did the Uchiha matriarch's eyebrows rise on her forehead.

'_How does she know so much about me?_' She asked herself '_And I was an undercover agent when I received the title of Black Death, how does she know about that_'

"Wow, You were also a Ninja mom? I thought that you were just someone normal" Sasuke said, Before he noticed the tick mark that formed in Mikoto's forehead, and he shut up.

"What's wrong with being normal?" Mikoto said, with a dark glare on her eyes, even Itachi was a bit scared now, even if he couldn't see anything.

"N-Nothing! You're awesome mom!" Sasuke said hurriedly, taking his previous words back, making all other occupants of the room chuckle in amusement.

"Anyways..." Shirasu drawled "Itachi still needs to rest and it would be better if you leave the room until he's fully recovered. I bet you two are very tired from the sudden trip from Konoha from halfway into the land of hot springs all the way to the shore, We got some spare beds, food, shower and clothing, I know you'd appreciate that" She said happily.

Mikoto nodded as she propped herself up, she kissed Itachi on the forehead before she went out of the room with Sasuke, Shirasu closing the door behind her

"Thank you, Shirasu, For taking care of Itachi" Mikoto said with a small nod

"There is no problem really Uchiha-san, It is my duty and my fellow worker's duties to make sure that those under our care are well taken care of" She replied politely while bowing. "Now I'll ask for a guard to lead you to your rooms, I'm afraid I have quite a large amount of work to accomplish, I'll be seeing you soon" She said with a nod, before she turned around and entered the metal gate at the end of the hall.

"Greetings" A deep voice said behind them, startling both Mikoto and Sasuke, It was another of the Soldiers, with the gray uniform and white mask, however his mask had no markings. "I was ordered to take you to your dormitories while you stay in our base, please follow me miss" He said in a monotone before he turned around and walked to the other side of the hall, in a quick pace.

They walked back into the reception room before another figure appeared, another soldier, this time with a single chevron in his head, he whispered something to the man before turning around and leaving the room.

"Change of plans, It seems my superiors want to talk to you, I'll be taking you to them" The man said stiffly, before he turned the hall and continue walking, Mikoto and Sasuke following suit.

-/-/-

**In Konohagakure no Sato**

**With Hiruzen**

The man had been writing all day, the previous signs of anxiety and dread now gone, just a blank look on his face, Danzo was long gone and he had no idea why he was still writing, his hands moving mindlessly through the paper, leaving words not of his own.

He then suddenly stopped writing, instead grabbing a small block and pressing it on the paper, leaving an official mark with the symbol of Konoha, before he signaled to one of his ANBU guards.

A man with a owl mask and the iconic black ANBU uniform appeared in front of the Hokage's desk, With a deep bow. "What do you require Hokage-sama?"

"I need you to take this to the Central Office, Tell the guards to raise the alarm, give them word to spread it through all of the Bounty Offices and place this record on the Bingo Books" Hiruzen said in a hurry, not like himself.

"Right away, Hokage-sama" The owl-masked ANBU said, before he disappeared in a cloud of smoke with the official paper in hands.

Just after the man left, Hiruzen felt calmer, as if his mind cleaned up, but the few minutes before completely gone from his mind.

That was of course, Before he remembered what was happening inside the village, Before he took out his pipe and light it up, taking small puffs, as he proceeded to fill up forms and requests left out on his table.

-/-/-

_**Back into the Shiromizu Base.**_

_**With Jiraiya**_

Jiraiya had received word minutes ago that Mikoto, Along with Sasuke, Naruto and Naomi had arrived safely inside the base, Right off, He asked for the man to bring Mikoto to him.

He was sitting down in a large chair by the side of a wooden table, With a bed and a wardrobe in the other corner of the room, with a door leading to a bathroom, The room was fairly simple, with not much decoration other than that, a plant and a simple painting.

The past days had been quite exhausting, the things going inside Konoha and the suspicious acts happening all around the village, he had to keep an keen eye on everything, at the moment, he was skimming through reports of his many spies throughout the elemental nations.

There was a knock on the door, before a man started to speak "Jiraiya-sama, I've brought them as you requested"

Jiraiya then got up and opened the door, giving the man a nod as he left their sight.

"Jiraiya-sama" Said Mikoto with a respectful bow "I'm glad to see you" She said, before Jiraiya ushered them inside the room.

"Just call me Jiraiya, I don't like all the politeness, makes me feel old" Said Jiraiya with a chuckle "But it sure is good seeing you again Mikoto, beautiful as always I see." He continued with a dopey smile.

If Mikoto didn't know who the man was, she would just have thanked him for the compliment, but she well did know who he was, She just scowled at the man, before muttering a 'thank-you'.

Sasuke just looked at the old man skeptically. "Who is this old guy?"

Jiraiya just gasped, putting a hand in his chest on mock hurt "The younger generation does not know of me? Well I feel hurt" The man said, before jumping in a back flip, landing in a comical pose "I'm the almighty, great, and ever so incredible, Jiraiya the Gallant sage of Myobokuzan!"

Sasuke raised his eyebrows, before he took a few steps backward, hiding behind Mikoto. "He is creepy..."

Jiraiya face vaulted, before sighing in mock disappointment, "No more respect from the young ones..."

"Alright, enough of that, Where we actually are Jiraiya-san?" Mikoto inquired, trying to get back to topic.

"Oh, Alright, We are in Shiromizu, it's one of the bases of the organization known as _Shiroi Shuei _(_White Guard_), We work together since we both have spy networks and they aren't affiliated to any village, working as mercenaries. Even I myself don't know how deep their organization goes in numbers, but they sure are over a few thousand members; about a hundred of them with jounin rank set of skills or above"

Mikoto widened her eyes and gave a small whistle "That's a lot of firepower they have there, even more for a Mercenary organization; I wonder how they haven't been found yet?"

"Ah, that's because they operate outside the elemental nations" Jiraiya said with a smile; While Mikoto's face scrunched in confusion

"But surrounding the elemental nations are almost impassable borders, to the east, south and north are the Endless Oceans, and to the west are the Insurmountable Peaks and the Endless Deserts. No known living person has made the crossing and returned" Mikoto said

"Well, they have been travelling forth and back from the southern Oceans for quite some time, they first arrived about twenty years ago, It seems there is another large piece of land just about eight months to the south of the Land of Sea, in the far south, the only problem are the constant storms and treacherous seas, but they have gotten the hang of travelling through there" Jiraiya replied, Filling in the retired kunoichi's curiosity "They have set themselves on a small island on the north of the land of sea, but soon they moved to the rest of the Elemental Nations, spreading towards the mainland"

"But what would they be doing so far out in the North, if they come from that far south?" Mikoto asked again.

"Only thing I got is that they come from a war stricken land, and that it has got so bad that they abandoned the place to find peace somewhere else, and return some day to fix the place" Jiraiya said with a shrug; earning him a quiet 'Oh' from Mikoto.

They were quiet for a few seconds before Jiraiya continued, changing topics "Well... Anyways, I'm sorry about what happened to your family and clan" He said, in an apologetic tone.

"Don't worry about it... I'm over that" She said, but she herself did not complement that idea, she saddened when she remembered that she was one of the last few known Uchiha alive.

They continued exchanging idle chat, with Sasuke listening closely to their conversation, They went on for a few minutes before a loud bang could be heard in the door; Jiraiya just grumbled, apologizing to Mikoto, before he told the person at the door to enter.

However he did not expect a high ranking soldier to be there, a woman with blonde hair tied behind her head, with the same grey uniform save for a few colored details, and the Three Chevrons in the forehead of her mask.

"Jiraiya, You need to see this" She said, making her way inside of the room, dropping a folder along with what looked like the copy of an official letter "It arrived in one of our bounty offices just a little less than a hour ago"

Jiraiya raised his eyebrow, as he moved to open the folder, he gasped when he saw the contents of the folder, he skimmed through a few of them, until he reached one and muttered a 'what the heck', he read that particular one intently with wide eyes, before propping himself back up

"Mikoto, you need to see this" he said, handing her the paper, she grabbed it and gasped when she saw the contents, it was a draft of the Bingo book, more specifically, bounties on Her, Itachi's and Sasuke's heads.

"That's insane! Why would they set a Fifteen million Ryo bounty on me and Sasuke!" She yelled, before she reached Itachi's part, and she paled "...Fifty Million Ryo on Itachi's head, dead or alive, set by Konoha... That's the fifth highest reward on the bingo books, People around the entire world will be looking for us" She said in a low voice, before she dropped her head in the table.

The soldier then whispered a few things to Jiraiya, only so that the both of them could hear, before she disappeared.

"Excuse me Mikoto, I need to do some things and talk with a certain old man in Konoha" Jiraiya said before he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Mikoto just sighed, there goes giving her sons a normal life again.

-/-/-

_**A few hours later, In Konohagakure**_

_**With Jiraiya**_

Jiraiya had been travelling via toads for the last few hours, to ensure he could arrive as fast as possible back into Konohagakure, he had just reached the outskirts of the village, just outside of the walls before he dismounted his toad, dispelling it, he walked forwards towards the gates, of which he then noticed were closed

'_That is unusual_' He said, before he continued forwards, closing the distance from himself and the village, before he felt four chakra signatures close on him quickly.

"Halt, The village is under lockdown, No outsiders are to be allowed inside" A masked man, noticeably an ANBU operative said in a commanding tone

"I need to talk to Hokage-sensei" Jiraiya replied, as he continued to walk forwards.

"I'm afraid that is not possible Jiraiya-sama, I've received strict orders that under no circumstances is anyone to be allowed inside the village until second order" The man continued.

"Look, don't make me force my way in" Jiraiya said, Sighing.

"I won't repeat myself, My orders are absolute" The man replied, and in the next second, he was unconscious in the ground, with a sharp blow to the back of his neck, and in the next instant, the other three ANBU were on high guard, unsheathing their blades.

"I warned you" He said, before he moved to his next target

In a few minutes, all four of them were unconscious, but not dead or severely hurt, Jiraiya took a kunai embedded on his arm and tossed it away nonchalantly, and just continued to walk towards the wall, before he jumped over it with a powerful chakra-powered pulse, and a second after he walked past the wall, a loud siren went out, before twenty shinobi were in front of him

"Jiraiya of the Sannin, you are under arrest for incapacitating four members of the ANBU and intruding the village while under lockdown" one of them said hurriedly

"Agh, I don't have time for this..." Jiraiya sighed, before a bright flash went out where he was, the shinobi present flinched at the sudden flash, but when they looked back Jiraiya was gone, a piece of log where he previously was

"Spread out and search for him!" one of them ordered, before the group divided into smaller sections and rushing away

_**In the Hokage's office**_

In a large puff of smoke, Jiraiya appeared inside the room, completely blocked save the half-open window

"What the heck is the meaning of this, Sensei!" Yelled Jiraiya, as he tossed the folder he received previously in his desk

"I'm fairly sure you know it Jiraiya" Hiruzen said calmly "The Uchiha are a treacherous clan that hold many secrets of our village, it's the best choice if they are eliminated"

Jiraiya was red in the face, before he continued to yell "What the hell are you talking about! You were the one to order Itachi to kill his clan, He was only doing his duty!"

"Exactly, His order was to completely eradicate his clan and then kill himself, he failed his orders and now he must pay" Hiruzen replied in the same tone as before.

Jiraiya balled his fists "You are going insane sensei" He moved forwards, stopping just in front of the Hokage's desk "What happened to the peace loving man I met so much time ago?" He tried to convince Hiruzen.

"Nothing happened, Jiraiya" Hiruzen replied "This is just the movement of progress, if Konoha desires to grow stronger this is the only way, Through force we'll find peace and rule over the elemental nations" He reasoned

"Thats a lie and you know it!" Jiraiya yelled "Peace can only be achieved through love and understanding, you're trying to create some twisted kind of it through fear and power, that is not peace!"

"It's all in the name of the village" Hiruzen continued "I wish nothing but the best to our village, Now I'd like you to remove yourself from my presence, you're causing me trouble"

Jiraiya knew something was off, this was not Hiruzen, definitely, not even if the man turned completely senile he would think on something like that. "I'm not leaving until you tell me what the hell is wrong with you" He said in hushed anger.

"Since you don't want to leave willingly, I'll have someone to it for me" He said, as three ANBU appeared around Jiraiya "Please lead him to the exit, Use force if you need, I don't want this failure of a student in front of me anymore." He finished with a somber look on his face

Jiraiya just growled, scowling "If that's so, I'm retiring from my duties as a Konoha Shinobi until you change your mind, Old man" He said in an angry tone, before a medium sized toad summon appeared behind him and in the next second they were gone, leaving a large hole in the window.

From the shadows in the corner of the room, a man gave a knowing smirk _'Another thorn out of my way, This is playing out perfectly, I can't thank you any more for your stupidity Shisui...'_

-/-/-

_**Back into the Shiromizu base**_

_**With Mikoto**_

The rest of the previous day had gone uneventfully to the last female Uchiha, she and Sasuke were led to a room of their own, were they changed their dusty and torn clothes for a new set, they were much like the uniforms the soldiers wore, except much lighter, the pants were a mid gray color, and the shirts were a dark beige color.

The next day however, she walked back to the hospital area to check on Itachi, Naruto and Naomi; she left Sasuke back in their room, sleeping. Once she entered Itachi's room she noticed there were a few new tubes with different medicine, and the bandages that previously covered his eyes were gone, but he was sleeping lightly, deciding not to wake him up, she moved to the next room with the children.

Once she entered the room, she saw Shirasu and another medic, they were removing the last set of bandages from Naomi, revealing unblemished, scar-less skin, much to their surprise, considering how large was the wound.

"Ah, Good morning Mikoto-san, we were running the last checkups on these both" Shirasu said, Pointing at the two of them "They are stable, however the girl will be down for a while longer I guess, about a day or two, not sure about the Blondie, he seemed like he was going to wake up soon"

Mikoto nodded towards her, and in a few minutes, both medics were out of the room, Mikoto sat down quietly besides their beds, with a few distant thoughts crossing her mind.

_'So these are the godchildren I never met' _She thought to herself, as she caressed Naomi's hair '_I was supposed to take care of you in case your parents couldn't... in the end, it turns out I failed..._'

She stood there for a few more minutes, caressing the top of the small girl's head, each few minutes the sound of footsteps could be heard from outside the room, but otherwise the place was completely quiet.

A long time passed by, Mikoto just stood in the room, she eventually went off to a quick nap, however she was woken when she noticed the blonde was squirming in his bed.

She instantly moved over to his bedside, looking at him intently as he turned his head to one side then the other, eventually, he stopped his squirming, and groaning, opened his eyes.

He looked at her, Then he blinked, groaned again, and continued blinking at her, until the situation finally got to his mind, and his eyes widened, and he instantly shot up to a sitting position, with a desperate look on his face.

"W-Where am I!?" Naruto asked frantically, whooshing his side to one side then the other, eventually he stopped when he looked at Naomi, he then started frowning.

"Calm down..." Mikoto said, and then Naruto stared at her deeply

"What did you do to Naomi!?" Naruto said angrily

"I did not harm her" Mikoto answered "In fact, I may have saved both of you"

"Whaddya mean?" Naruto asked, confusion evident in his face.

"You were injured, so I took care of you until we reached this place" Mikoto said, smiling "By the way, My name's Mikoto, Mikoto Uchiha, what is yours?"

"Oh" Naruto mumbled about something unintelligible, and then all previous anger was gone from his face "My name's Naruto Uzumaki, and I'll be the greatest Hokage on the world! Believe it!" He exclaimed with a proud smile.

Mikoto chuckled at the boys antics "Well, It is nice to meet you finally Naruto-kun, I've seen you around the village so many times but I never really bothered..." She confessed in a sad voice.

"Don't worry Mikoto-san" The boy said with a smile "At least you have noticed me, unlike the others..." He continued, with a sadder tone but with the smile still plastered in his face, until his expression changed once again "By the way, how did you find us?"

"Ah, My son found you unconscious in the top of a tree house, you were very tired but other than that alright; But your sister was badly injured-" Mikoto said, but she was cut off

"What!? Naomi is hurt! I'll beat up whoever did that to her!" Naruto exclaimed in an angry tone, trying to get off his bed.

"Let me finish, Naomi was injured, but she's completely fine now, she must just be really tired" Mikoto finished, smiling at the boy.

Naruto just huffed and sat back down on his bed with a pout on his face; Before he started contemplating the Uchiha matriarch's face "...Oh, I know you! You're that nice lady from the Uchiha Compound, You're Sasuke's mother right?"

"Oh, You know Sasuke?" Mikoto asked eagerly.

"Yeah, He is very popular so I know about him..." Naruto said with a distant look.

"I'm sure you'd make good friends" Mikoto said with a smile on her face "But still, you need more rest, you should lay down for a while longer" she said while she gently pushed the blonde back down into the bed

"Aww, but I'm fine... Believe it!" he said, pouting, before a low rumble was heard "...Uhh, But I guess I'd be happy with some food" he admitted.

Mikoto giggled at the boy, and as if on cue, a suspicious looking medic appeared in the door holding a tray of food; "I was requested to deliver this to you" The man said, handing the tray over to Mikoto before departing.

"Well... That was awkward" Mikoto admitted, with one of her eyebrows raised.

"Don't worry Mikoto-san" another voice said "We only have a strict vigilance inside of our medical facilities" Shirasu continued, as she entered the room. "So it seems you have woken up, Naruto-chan" She said once more, as she approached the boy.

"Hey! Don't call me 'chan!'... And who are you?" Naruto said, looking intently at her mask.

"Oh, I'm Shirasu, A Medic" The masked woman said "I'm charged with taking care of you, so don't worry about me, I'm just doing my job" She continued as her hands started glowing green and she put her hands on Naruto's head.

'_Just as I suspected, Now that he's awake it's easy to see that he has two chakra signatures... The girl gives the exact same read_' she thought to herself '_I've never seen this type of jinchuuriki before, Arashi must be informed of this right away..._' "Alright, it seems like you're completely fine and ready to go, don't go overexerting yourself and you should be back to full power in less than a week!" Shirasu exclaimed happily; Before she moved to the other side of the room. Running her hands over Naomi "And I'm pretty sure she'll wake up soon too"

"That's good!" Naruto said happily "I hate to see Naomi like that..."

Shirasu scribbled something on a piece of paper before she nodded to the pair and vanished from the room, Mikoto and Naruto continued to exchange idle chat, but eventually Mikoto decided to part from the room, she waved Naruto goodbye and walked to the next room.

"Hey mom" Itachi said just as she entered the room, His eyes were open and he was sitting in the side of his bed "I guess I'm better now" He said, smiling.

Mikoto smiled at him, before walking forwards and giving her eldest son a hug; "So, how do you feel now?"

"A bit tired, and my eyes still hurt from the brightness... But other than that, I'm completely fine" He said, as he stood up with no effort "Shirasu came around a few minutes ago to give me the last dose of medicine, I'm already good to go."

"That's good to hear, Ita-chan..." She said, hugging him once again.

"Hey, you said that you would stop using that nickname..." He said with a small pout.

"I said maybe" She replied with a small smirk. "Now let's go see Sasuke, I bet he is desperate to see you again"

-/-/-

_**In the other side of the Shiromizu Base**_

_**With Jiraiya**_

Jiraiya arrived panting slightly, in the moment he arrived he ordered one of the high ranking officers to inform Arashi that he wanted to talk with the man, and soon he went down a few levels in the base, eventually entering a office with a map of the elemental nations in the back and a desk in the middle.

"Jiraiya, Why do you come in such a hurry?" Hakuen said, she was sitting besides Arashi who was writing down on some papers

"Konoha" He said at once "It seems like the Hokage has gone insane, or someone is manipulating him from the other side, anyways, The village is not safe anymore"

"Darn" Arashi groaned "That's going to make our operations in the land of fire more difficult, Do you still hold any leverage against the elder Sarutobi?"

Jiraiya shook his head "Seems something really got to him, When I arrived at the village it was under lockdown, and the Hokage was not acting like he normally did, He even considered me not to be worthy to be his student anymore" He concluded, with a frown in his face.

"Do you have any idea why he would make such a twist in personality? I knew him to be an forgiving and kind peace-loving man" Arashi continued

"No idea at all" Jiraiya said looking down, With a frown on his face.

"That's such a shame..." Arashi said "Hakuen, I want a team with the five best infiltrator ranked soldiers we have, send them to Konoha to investigate" He ordered, at which Hakuen nodded and left the room.

"Such a shame, really, Hiruzen was an important part of our plans, now that this has happened our plans will be delayed for a long while..." Arashi said, while still writing down "For now, although, we must wait and observe, and wait for the perfect oportunity" He finished, while standing up. "I have things to do, you're invited to leave my office and return to your quarters Jiraiya" He finished in a darker tone, while he walked out of the room.

Jiraiya sighed and left the room, the door closing behind him, He supposed it wouldn't hurt to have a drink right now...

-/-/-

**A.N: **

Quite a bit of an advancement, I finished this chapter early to apologize for the big delay on the last one, also quite larger on size itself (about a thousand words larger than the last one); Revised a few errors on the last three chapters, mostly grammatical errors.

On the next one or two chapters we'll have a bit more of character development and some important things happen, before I'll conclude this arc with

Only a single review? I'm sad.

**bcsclaymore: **Don't worry about Hakuen, she's not directly related to any of the Canon characters (I know you meant she looks like Kushina) And anyways, to clear any confusion, the Shiroi Shuei are an independent organization, of which works alongside Jiraiya.

-/-/-

_**Database:**_

**Shiroi Shuei**: Meaning 'White Guard'; It's an organization of unknown Shinobi who hail from the _Land of Storms_ Far south of the elemental nations, They operate in the Land of water, Land of Fire and Land of Earth as mercenaries or as spies.

**Shiromizu: **Meaning 'White Water', It's a primary hideout of the Shiroi Shuei organization, located in the Land of Water

**Arashi**: His nickname means 'Storm'; He is the leader of the Shiroi Shuei, Not much is known about this man, other than his perceivable intelligence and strength.

**Hakuen: **Her nickname means 'White Smoke'; She is the second-in-command of the Shiroi Shuei, Not much is known about this woman, other than her perceivable intelligence and cunning.

**Shirasu: **Her nickname means 'White Sand'; She is the head medic of the Shiroi Shuei, Not much is known about this woman other than her extreme knowledge in human anatomy and field medicine.


	5. Arc I: Burning

-/-/-

_Disclaimer: I Do not own Naruto_

-/-/-

_**Belong**_

_**Arc I: The Birth of a Rising Legend**_

_**Chapter 5: Burning**_

-/-/-

**Shiroi Shuei's 'Shiromizu' Hideout**

**Three days after the previous chapter.**

**With Mikoto and Naruto**

The last couple of days had gone rather uneventfully for the residing group inside the Shiromizu Bunker/Safehouse, Jiraiya had been rather unsettled from the events that were taking place in Konoha, and resigned to his own room; Mikoto had been spending time with both of her sons, and Naruto, of whom she had to admit she had taken a liking to, the blonde-haired boy was very… inspiring, despite his brashness and loud-mouthed attitude; Itachi had fully recovered by now and Naomi only ever squirmed so slightly.

The high-ranking officers of Shiroi Shuei however, had been strangely absent, and only Shirasu had been seen with frequency near the hospital section, and Hakuen was seen walking in irregular intervals, Other than that, none of them were seen; But currently, there was a bit of chatter coming from the eerily quiet halls of the settlement.

"So, When do you think she's going to wake up? I'm really worried about her, Believe it" A voice, noticeably a children's, inquired.

"I can presume she'll be awake by tomorrow night, But I have no way to be absolutely sure, It looks like she has some form of… mental block" A deep voice replied

"Are you sure she is fine?" Another voice, this time that of a woman

"Yes ma'am, Her health is completely fine, but as I've said, it seems like she has no preference in waking up" The same deep voice replied "I'll take my leave now" The man said, retreating from the room.

And as the man left, the two conscious people in the room sighed.

"Man, I sure am worried about her, Believe it..."

**With Jiraiya**

As previously said, Jiraiya had been quite upset with the events that had occurred in Konoha, And the reason was fairly simple: He knew his teacher, He was a man of peace, And some would even say he was a sage of endless wisdom, And he knew for sure, that his teacher wouldn't change that much in the course of a few days.

There was something wrong going in Konoha, that he was for sure, and he had an idea of what it could be.

He hoped he was wrong.

Nevertheless, He dropped his unusually large scroll on the table, unrolling it, and began to seal a few 'borrowed' resources in it; No matter what, He was going to find out what was up.

**With Itachi and Sasuke**

Itachi could describe his last few days with a simple word: Boring.

The place was always really quiet, and other than the uncountable amount of books that there seemed to be in the place, there really was nothing to do, at least nothing that he was permitted to do.

He was now laying with his legs crossed in a bed, with a small book on his hands, While Sasuke watched him intently.

And honestly, it was baffling how much adulation his younger brother had for him, and it creeped him out most of the time, despite how much he liked Sasuke.

"...Are you just going to stay there nii-san?"

"Yes."

"...But you haven't moved in ages"

"I don't need to."

"...Want to do something?"

"...Already am..."

"..."

"..."

"...But would-"

Itachi sighed deeply, trying not to ignore the childish blabber of his younger brother, these were going to be some long days.

**With the Shiroi Shuei Officers**

"Alright lads, Line up!" A booming voice said, before a long line of soldiers formed up, all of them sporting the gray and beige Shiroi Shuei uniform with the white masks, all of them had Two chevrons.

"As you know, there is a lot of stuff going out in the land of fire right now, Consider this your passport to your promotion, that is, if you are successful, I want each single bit of information you can find, Remember, if you are detected, your head is mine...! That is, if you're not killed on the spot, of course." He shouted, eying all of them eerily, the troops standing still, "What are you waiting for, you useless pieces of shit, Move along!" He yelled, as the figures in the back of the room shrunk a bit; Before they rushed out of the room.

"Alright Kage, now that you're done, we need to hurry up to the meeting" Said yet another voice, as he nodded to the man.

"No-one asked you Kirishi, I know exactly what I have to do" The man cockily replied, Before another figure started walking alongside them.

"Are the preparations done?" Said the third, bulkier, bigger figure.

"Almost, Just a few more nudges here and there and we'll be able to abandon Shiromizu for yet another long time" Replied Kirishi

"Great, I hate this place, too wet for my liking" grumbled Kage

"Let's move along, We're already late"

They rushed through the darker, dimmer walls deep into the lower, highly guarded sections of the base before they arrived in front of a circular door, It melted aside as the three men stepped in, Arashi stood on the end of a long table, many men and women stood side to side, each of them clad with the Shiroi Shuei uniform and three chevrons in their masks, Hakuen and Shirasu were already there, All of them sat down as Arashi started to speak

"Now that we have all arrived, We need to reconsider our planning inside the land of fire, Due to most unfortunate recent events..."

**A few days later...**

**In Shiromizu**

Arashi was definitely... Unsettled.

His subordinates were reporting to him daily about any developments within Konoha, and the land of fire as a whole, and he had to say, those changes would make his projects a whole lot harder; Konoha was supposed to be a little piece of strategic and military vantage in their arsenal when they really went out with his plan, but it seemed that right now that was very unlikely.

He speculated that he'd need five years, if everything ran smoothly, so that he could go onwards with his most esteemed project, developed through the years, and then he'd finally have some way to redeem himself, well, if he wasn't judged as the bad guy after things started to come out.

He smirked, his mask no longer on his face, as he observed a large map, the known elemental nations presented as a small peninsula in the corner of a much larger landmass, adjusting little pins to help manage the several outposts and areas of strategic vantage, he started humming a song to himself, before he noticed a presence at the back of the room.

"You can come out, I know you're there"

On the corner of the large room, a figure stepped forwards, it was Hakuen herself, with her mask on.

"I don't like what you are becoming... what _we_ are becoming"

The man sighed as he turned to face her.

"It's the flow of progress, Hakuen, I also don't like the paths we have been taking, the lies we have been telling and the trust we have been shattering, but I have thought this over a thousand times, and I'm afraid this is the best way, for the very reasons you and I started this whole planning out of "

"…still..."

"Don't worry about the means, It will matter minimally in the end, Just remember what we have been through, what our family, our friends, our people have been through, do you think they deserve the suffering? We know who are the true enemies, and we know what must be done, we're so many steps ahead from our opponents and we're so close to having everything we've ever wanted, I just need your patience and support "

"I... I understand... Alright." She replied in a downtrodden tone

**In Konohagakure**

**With Jiraiya**

Jiraiya was puzzled.

The sandaime had almost completely shut himself down from the outside world, He was locked in tight deep into the ANBU headquarters, a place even he, a spymaster, couldn't delve into without being detected.

But it was not because of that, no, it was because of the changes in the village's policies.

Since the extermination of the Uchiha clan there seemed to be an absolute increase in the village's militarization efforts, the security was tighter, the guards were more alert, and many shinobi-exclusive places were closed down, and there was also the sudden increase in the ANBU forces, he was sure the ANBU did not have so many troops before, there was an increase of at least fifty percent, and that was unsettling on itself.

Other than that, he noticed how much the clan compounds were more divided, each clan compound had a very obvious marking around it, and it seemed like those places had a even tighter security program.

Whatever Hiruzen had done, it made the village a place much harder to infiltrate.

**With Danzo Shimura**

Danzo appeared to be emotionless, but inside, he was ecstatic.

He had never expected it to go so well, despite the fact that the three last Uchiha were somewhere in the land of fire and the Kyuubi brat had gone missing; Everything was going according to plan; He never expected Shisui's eye to work so well with Hiruzen.

Soon Konoha would be his, and only his; and the world would bow to him as their legitimate leader.

He smirked; Now he only had one thing to do, and then every piece would set on their places slowly.

**With Hiruzen Sarutobi**

His headache pounced once again.

He just couldn't place thing with thing, why was he acting like he was, and why couldn't he recall any memories from so many things?

He shrugged it off as some simple form of sleep deprivation, considering his situation, as he continued to write down mindlessly in the forms in front of his table.

And then another deep pinch of pain.

And then it came out like a broken dam.

'_Danzo, What are you doing?_'

His hands shook a bit, and his eyes drifted off to his front door, and after a entire week of manipulation, he had finally broken out.

"Shimura Danzo! I'm going to take your head away from your shoulders you treacherous bastard!"

"Oh, it's a shame then, Sarutobi" A voice said in a mocking tone, from the corner of the room "I was just about to do that to you too"

"Danzo! Just what have you been doing?!"

"It's simple Hiruzen" The man said "Your ideals and ways of work are obsolete, you're way too soft, we're stagnating, standing behind, this is just an effort to thrust things forward"

The elderly Hokage growled at the man, before he raised two fingers "ANBU! Take this man down and escort him to the T&amp;I Department!"

"I'm afraid your little ANBU won't be able to help you this time" The man said with a knowing smirk, as four ANBU troops appeared, surrounding the Sandaime.

"It's a shame really... It was so easy to take your personal guards down, maybe it wouldn't have happened if you weren't so easy? anyways, this is the last chance to accept the deal, old friend, help me, whether it is peacefully… or not"

Hiruzen scoffed and narrowed his eyes at Danzo "As if I would ever aid you in your sick and twisted plots, Danzo"

"Don't you see,_ Sarutobi?_ The village has so much wasted potential, we could shape the world in the way we want, we can have the peace you always wished for, and this time, I'll have it my way, and you'll help me, willingly or not" Danzo said in a menacing tone, as Hiruzen placed his hands in a familiar hand-seal pattern, and his face took on a dark look when he noticed nothing had happened.

"What… did you do to me?"

"You didn't think I would come unprepared for this situation, did you? Fighting the so-called 'god of shinobi' even if he's at a significant disadvantage is still suicide, even if you're not at your prime anymore, I couldn't risk it" Danzo said, Before one of the ANBU surrounding him sprinted forwards, slashing with his sword; and the others also began their assault.

Hiruzen managed to dodge and block many of the blows, but even if he was revered as the God of Shinobi, he was in fact, getting old, and without any chakra to give him an edge, they slowly were getting an advantage over him, before one of the ANBU managed to slash at the back of his knee, making him fall to the ground with an yelp.

"Any last words, Hiruzen?"

"...I should have killed you when I had the chance" '_Goodbye, Konohamaru-chan, Goodbye, Naruto-kun... And Goodbye Asuma, I'm sorry we couldn't make amends before this happened'_

Hiruzen waited for the final blow, to take it all away, but it never came, instead came the slow and cold unconsciousness, as his mind drifted away, the last thing he saw was the markings running up his arms and hands.

"Gentlemen, Clean this mess, I want a open meeting at early noon, tomorrow" said Danzo dismissively, walking up to the hokage's unconscious form "You know, Hiruzen, I ever only do things in the name of the village" as his subordinates carried the half-dead body of Hiruzen away.

**The Next Morning**

Jiraiya was having a hard time finding and usable information; there was a strict curfew in the village, keeping everyone closed up, even the out-of-duty shinobi, even the infiltrated members of the Shiroi Shuei were having trouble getting any information. the only movement that happened were the civilians working from early in the morning to sunset, but even that was quiet. it seemed as if the entire village had entered a somber stage, as the winter took away even the color and liveliness from the forests surrounding the place.

Nevertheless, there was an public announcement made that called for a large gathering, it seemed as if the Hokage wanted to relay important information to the entire village, that instantly got his attention; He knew that the Shiroi Shuei agents knew he was there, and was specifically investigating the Hokage, so the rest of the village was covered while he watched.

With caution and experience molded after decades of doing the same thing over and over, he swiftly infiltrated the village's defenses, without any interruption.

Looks like they forgot the man that did the maintenance of many of the village's security mechanisms was Jiraiya himself, he knew of all the loopholes and uncovered areas; and while that would be a security problem in itself, they were so specific and hard to reach that the threat was minuscule and unnoticeable, even for Danzo's security standards, But Jiraiya was Jiraiya.

It was easy for him to bypass the strict guard that the ANBU imposed in the village, and as soon as he reached the crowd it was easy to henge and blend in, even if the guard here was much higher.

Once he looked up to the tall platform were a few ANBU stood guard, he expected the form of Hiruzen, not Danzo.

"My fellow people" Said Danzo, in a dark tone "I have grave news to deliver" - that did not seem good, thought Jiraiya.

"Just Yesterday the Sandaime Hokage entered in confrontation with two deadly opponents, despite their efforts, they did not manage to kill our dear leader, but he was left incapacitated" - Definitely not good - though Jiraiya, as the civilians started muttering

"While he lays in recovery, I as elder advisor of the village, will be acting as the executive and military leader of the village" - Not good at all

"The culprits of such an attack were people who once stood with the will of fire, but now have betrayed us and our village, Their names were Uchiha Itachi, who has murdered his clan and kidnapped his remaining family, and one who was once held dear to our village, Jiraiya of the Sannin"

At that, the crowd released an audible gasp, and a single word made its way in Jiraiya's mind - 'Fuck'

He melted away from the crowd and found himself making way out of the village in a matter of seconds.

**Back in Shiromizu, With Naruto and Mikoto**

The two of them stood there, Naruto sitting at the edge of his bed, Chatting with Mikoto, who had just came by to spend some time with him.

He really liked her, no-one would be willing to spend their time with him back in Konoha, with the exception of Naomi of course, but they looked after each other since they could remember.

Naruto had been already cleared out, It seemed that the medicine and the treatment he had been given, along with the absurd amount of physical endurance his tenant gave him made him quite something, even if his Chakra reserves had dwindled to a point of almost exhaustion.

Their idle chatter went on for hours, Mikoto found it saddening that they had to leave to live off in a house inside the forest, as no-one was willing to live near them, going as far as to abandoning their homes to stay away from the so called 'demons'.

Of course Naruto didn't tell her about the beatings, He never talked about them.

And then suddenly, making both of them jump in surprise, they saw the bundle that was Naomi move a bit, then groan, and then sit up.

The Red-headed girl looked around, as if on a daze, blinking many times, before she asked; "...W-Where am I?"

Before she could end her sentence, Naruto had jumped off his bed and promptly _Glomped_ the girl, taking her breath out.

"NaomiIwassoworriedhowareyouareyouokayihopeyouare-!" And so the boy proceeded to ask so quickly it was barely understandable.

"N-Naruto! Get off of me!" The girl said, Before she shoved him off to the side, taking a breath in; Before the two of them looked at each other straight in the eyes, and slowly, grins started making their way into their faces, before they hugged each other.

Mikoto could only observe on the adorable scene going in just in front of her.

**Unknown Location, With Arashi**

Once more, things weren't looking up to him; It seemed as bad events were much like snowballs, once it got started up, it didn't slow down until it reached the bottom of the hill, and even then it still could hit a cabin or two, that metaphorical representation of course, meant that he would be spending some nights in front of a planning board with a warm cup of tea to keep him company, he sighed as he continued to file through and re-read and re-draw some of his thoughts.

Thankfully, he was brought out of his dullness as a resounding knock came from his quarter's doors, he returned to his dormitory, leaving his planning room, and then spotted a masked Hakuen and a unsettled Jiraiya, he moved towards the center of that little group and made a small gesture as in saying 'whats up?'

Sighing, Jiraiya voiced "Things have gone south in Konoha, It seems like they took my sensei out of action and they're putting Danzo in command of the village, and they blamed me and Itachi for the deeds"

Arashi sighed, voicing out an calm "Alright" as he walked back to his planning room, moving to the part that involved the plans around the land of fire, as he erased a great part of his strategies and plans

"Ah, Hakuen, Please brew me some tea" He said as he plopped down in his chair "And please ask team Storm to report to me!"

Hakuen left hurried and Jiraiya went back to his quarters.

**A Few Minutes Later**

After a few minutes of wait, Shirasu, Kirishi, Dotoka and Kage walked through the door of the planning room respectively, immediately, Kirishi piped up.

"Why are half the plans erased?"

"Because there's some shady stuff going out in the Leaf" Kage said dismissively "I've heard about the stuff and the Hokage deal, Wha's it you need, 'Rashi?"

Arashi sighed as he brushed at his hair with his fingertips, "I thought of a few possibilities to resume things with or without a lot of trouble, the first thing that came to mind would be sending a large force and just taking the place with military intervention, but that wouldn't be something very 'healthy' to our plans…"

"What else you brewed up in your mind?" Said Kirishi lazily

"Well, we _could _send the Jinchuuriki of the Nine-tails back to the Lead"

And imediatelly, Kage stepped up "Oh no - no way in _hell_" He said angrily "He's right here in our hands and you plan to send him _back into the vipers' nest!?_"

Arashi chuckled lowly "Oh well, I have a plan, a good plan, it'll take some time of course"

The other people in the room looked at eachother suspiciously, and then approached the table "We're listening"

Arashi chuckled, "I'tll take a few years I suppose, but it'll go like this…"

-/-/-

**A.N: **

_[Revised 08/28]_

Alright, now only one more chapter for a new Arc; I may do a little 'Interlude' chapter then.

As you can see, I was not quite inspired when I did this chapter, thus the apparent lack of 'whoa' in this chapter, Therefore I apologize

Also, Check out **Hakumei **from the author **Pryotra**; Its awesome

-/-/-

_**Database:**_

**Dotoka: **His nickname means 'Earth and Sun'; He is a high ranking officer of the Shiroi Shuei, His known abilities include absurd strength and advanced Earth manipulation

**Kirishi: **His nickname means 'Blurred Vision' (Fitting isn't it?); He is a high ranking officer in the Shiroi Shuei, And is revered as a smart, intelligent and cunning man, despite his physical frailness he is highly skilled in Kenjutsu and Bukijutsu; Aswell as being an advanced Fuinjutsu user.

**Kage:** His nickname means 'Shadow'; He is a Commander of the Shiroi Shuei forces, and acts as a general of sorts, organizing and ruling over the operatives of the Shiroi Shuei, Not much is known about this man; Other than his apparent strenght, stealth and infiltration capabilities


End file.
